Misdirected Mystery
by Ittoki Otoya
Summary: Written for a prompt at Tumblr's kurobasuanonmeme. Light Yaoi near the end. AU- Kagami, a reckless detective with too many charges was placed in charge this weak looking rookie, Kuroko, who's always reading and looking really useless. But he soon changed his mind when he works with him for a case. But why does his never wrong instincts telling him that Kuroko is dangerous?
1. Chapter 1: The first meeting and case

_**[[A/N: This was written for the prompt below found on the KuroBasu Anon Meme on tumblr. Can't say I did a good job when I lack the experience in writing mystery stories. I even added in another small mystery since I thought it would be strange to just jump right into the main plot.**_

_**Erm….. so read at your own risk? I'm not really sure where I'm going along with this actually…. ]]**_

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_GENRE: Mystery! Comedy! Drama! Action! (and AU)__  
__PROMPT: I want sort of a buddy-cop dynamic where Kagami is the reckless detective who's had one too many offenses, so now he's stuck babysitting this weak looking rookie, Kuroko, who's always got his nose stuck in some detective novel and just looks really, really useless. Hyuuga is the chief of police, and Ms. Aida Riko is the mayor—the plot is that she's been framed of some crime (your choice of body) and at some point someone gets suspicious her rival Akashi, who's running against her this upcoming election, had something to do with it. OP would LOVE tons of bromance, and any romantic relationships (whether it be KagaKuro and anyone else) is totally optional and OP will be fine with any pairings. _

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Kagami Taiga scowled as the chief of police, Hyuuga assigned him the newest member of the detective force. "Kagami. This rookie would be under your wing and you will be teaching him the ropes on how to work. Please be sure to teach him the _right way_ to solve crimes." He knew it was Hyuuga's way of telling him not to be so reckless and exactly why Kuroko was assigned to be under his wing.

It was not his fault for being reckless when no one believed him whenever he mentioned that his instincts were telling him something about the case and Hyuuga usually refused to give him the approval or it took a while before he finally gets it. Soon he simply gave up and went straight to gather the evidence he needed to prove his theory correct.

The detectives were all under Hyuuga along with the police officers so Hyuuga's words were law. There were very few detectives here too so he could see why Hyuuga seemed happy to have another detective around. Probably one that was not like him and actually solve cases with his head instead of his instincts.

"Nice to meet you, Kagami-kun. My name is Kuroko Tetsuya." Kagami glanced at the male he was supposed to be looking after and sighed. Was Hyuuga serious about having him in their forces? Kuroko looked weak and small, not to mention that he was holding onto a Sherlock Holmes mystery book? Was this some wannabe detective that read too many mystery books?

"Tch. You better not get in my way. You're weird." For some reason, his instincts were telling him to be wary of him, like if he was not careful, Kuroko might get him. Glancing at him again, Kagami wondered if his instincts were messed up for the first time. How was this small weak-looking male dangerous in any way?

Still, Kagami decided not to question his instincts and watched Kuroko carefully. Maybe he would understand why his instincts said Kuroko was dangerous in the future. For now, he just had to wonder what to do with this male during cases. "How old are you anyway?" Judging from the small frame he had, Kagami wondered if he just graduated from school or something.

"I'm twenty-two this year, Kagami-kun." Kagami's eyes widened in surprise and he was looking over Kuroko once again. "What? You're the same age as me? But you look more like some kid." Kuroko's eyes narrowed and Kagami wondered if he had stepped onto a landmine.

Especially when there was a sudden chilling aura around Kuroko and his expression was an irritated one. "Kagami-kun. I'm no way like a kid. Don't judge me because of my small frame and that have nothing to do with being a detective." Definitely a landmine when even his tone was cold and harsh.

Kagami had to admit that body size had nothing to do with being a detective. Usually brains were what mattered, except for his case. His instincts were good enough to help him solve cases, although he often did things rashly and without going through the proper procedures and authorisation. That was why he got into so much trouble. Kagami often charged into a place to look for clues based on his instincts without Hyuuga's approval and other things related to that. The number of offenses he had because of that was huge too.

"What can you do then?" Even without his small frame, Kuroko looked really useless and seeing someone reading a book while talking to you was rather irritating too. Kuroko had only looked up to face him from time to time. The book was still open and Kuroko still had not stopped reading it yet. "For one thing, I'm more observant than Kagami-kun."

That was the only response he got from Kuroko who excused himself to look around the space he was being assigned to as his office. What was that suppose to mean? Was Kuroko mocking him now? Sure he often missed out certain details and a poor judge of character and if it was not for his good instincts, he probably would have failed to be a detective.

Not that he would even tell Kuroko that of course. No one needed to know that all he was good at was his instincts and thinking things with his brains was pathetic. Kagami barely even passed the theory test for his job too. His results back in school were pretty pathetic too.

Glancing in the direction of the now settled Kuroko who was still in the midst of reading, Kagami walked towards him to ask another question out of boredom and to find out more about his new partner. "You're a fan of mystery novels?" That must be a stupid question. Why else would he be reading it if he wasn't interested in the book?

"They're interesting. You can learn a lot from books, Kagami-kun." The book was snatched away from Kuroko's hand and Kagami skimmed through the book. "It's boring to read so many words and it takes time before you reach the part that explains the whole mystery to you. Why can't they just cut to the point." Kagami twitched at the thickness of the book and shoved the book back into Kuroko's hand.

This felt like studying in school all over again with those boring textbooks. Kuroko seemed amused, although his facial expression was very much almost the same except for that small hard to notice smile that irritated Kagami. "Are you laughing at me?" Kuroko might not have laughed but Kagami felt that he was mocking him.

"Sorry. Someone else I know says that when I ask him to read too." Kuroko apologised and glanced back towards his book. He was frowning when he noticed that Kagami had turned the page. Kagami on the other hand was slightly surprised. Kuroko did not seem like a people person, so he actually had friends?

Kagami's face must have shown his thoughts since Kuroko was looking at him strangely. "Do you have something to say, Kagami-kun?"Kagami started off shaking his head but decided against it. He might as well ask and get his curiosity settled. "You have friends?"

Kuroko blinked and nodded his head. "I'm rather close with six people." What a strange question and Kuroko decided that his attention would be much better with his book than Kagami. "You don't seem like someone who would interact with people much." Kuroko shrugged and turned a page from his book.

"I suppose. I knew them for a few years already." This surprised Kagami even more. So he had old friends to boot? Kagami himself only had a few friends he knew but they were in a different country currently. "Anything else?" Kuroko asked and Kagami shook his head.

This newbie barely caught his attention and he seemed boring like he thought. He might as well just go on and start telling Kuroko what they were supposed to do for their job. After going through the boring procedures and stuff he usually did not care about, he was able to go back to his desk and sit. It took him a few hours to bring him around and all the other stuff, which were much longer than he liked.

Sadly that was over fast enough when Hyuuga entered the place and called out his name. "Kagami. There's a case for you. Kuroko, you should come too since you're currently his partner." Kagami furrowed his brows and headed towards him. "So what kind of case is it this time?" The last few ones were rather stupid and boring, with people wanting him to track down things that they lost and misplaced.

"A burglary case. An antique jewellery set was reported to be missing from an Imayoshi Shoichi." Kagami sighed, looks like it was some boring case again. Why did all the cases he was being assigned to all had to do with missing items recently? "Oi. Kuroko let's go." He looked around for his partner but Kuroko's desk was empty.

Where did he go? "I'm over here, Kagami-kun." His eyes widened in shock and he looked towards to his left. "Since when were you here?" Kagami did not even see or feel Kuroko around earlier. He was rather surprised when he heard Kuroko's straight answer that he was standing there right from the start.

Hyuuga seemed surprised too and Kagami concluded that Kuroko was hard to notice besides looking weak. Despite their surprised expressions, Kuroko's face remained blank. "Aren't you upset that no one noticed you?" Kuroko raised his shoulders and shrugged. "I'm used to it. My presence isn't noticed easily. There's only one person who could always notice me."

The thoughts that both Hyuuga and Kagami had were something over the lines of that being sad and pathetic. To not feel anything from his lack of presence was something that he must have grew up with if he could say that he was used to it monotonely.

"Just head towards the scene. Kiyoshi and the rest are already there. They were nearby so I sent them over before the two of you." Hyuuga announced and the pair was being sent towards Imayoshi Shoichi's place together. "Who's Kiyoshi-san?" Kuroko asked enquiringly. "The second in command of the police force. He usually gets send towards cases with us at the same time but sometimes they head over there earlier if they're nearby."

A nod was his response and the rest of the ride was quiet with Kuroko reading his book and not saying anything else. Kagami looked away and silently thought what was the point of having a partner if his partner just reads and does nothing else? He might as well just continue working alone and he did not think that he would work well with him too.

"Oh! Kagami! You're here. And where is that new partner of yours that I heard about." Kiyoshi waved them over and Kagami quietly told Kuroko that this was Kiyoshi. "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya and I look forward to working with you." Kuroko bowed politely and Kiyoshi laughed awkwardly at the bow. He wondered when on earth Kuroko appeared next to Kagami…

"There's no need to be so polite. I'm Kiyoshi Teppei, I look forward to working with you too. I hope you work longer than those other recruits we had that decided that this was not their cup of tea too. So where did you work at before this?" Kiyoshi asked with a smile and Kuroko's answer was fast and straight to the point. "A bookstore."

Kagami coughed loudly to catch their attention, before they both started any other conversation and lose track of what they were supposed to be doing. "Oh right." Kiyoshi scratched his head sheepishly and pointed to them in the direction of the apartment. "Oops. I forgot that we're on a case."

Now that his attention was back towards the case, Kiyoshi started explaining about what the victim told him and how the house had been broken into. Apparently the house was broken in earlier in the day while he was at work. Kagami raised an eyebrow at the remark that the glass door by the balcony had been broken and the thief probably entered from there. This was the second floor, did the thief climbed up? That seemed pretty unlikely.

"This here is the victim, Imayoshi Shoichi." A rather tall guy wearing spectacles glanced towards their direction and Kagami introduced himself as the detective of the case quickly. Kuroko on the other hand, observed the male with a small frown, he had recognised who this was but luckily Imayoshi did not seem to recognise him or notice him for that matter.

He quickly excused himself and walked around the place to look for clues. The pieces of glass were indeed being on the inside, as proof of the fact that it broke from the outside. But Kuroko knew it was something that Imayoshi could have done himself too. "Huh?" He commented softly to himself as he noticed something strange.

It was probably nothing at the moment and he turned his attention towards the safe instead. There were no signs of it being broken so the thief was either someone who knew the lock combination or an expert in safe breaking. "So the only thing that went missing was the antique jewellery set?"

Seeing that Kagami was questioning Imayoshi, Kuroko decided to move closer to listen in better. "The thief most likely went away with the thing he thinks he can escape easily with." Imayoshi answered swiftly and Kuroko watched him carefully. The answer was way too fast and the other responses he gave were just as quick.

"So you're a basketball player?" Kiyoshi asked as he looked around the cabinet near the safe. Imayoshi smiled smugly and nodded his head. "I used to play in High School. One of the trophies is back when I was the Captain of the team with the currently renown basketball player, Aomine Daiki." Kuroko's face darkened when he heard him boasting about that.

He turned away from the rest of the conversation and continued his previous job of looking around the place. The front door was still in place so the thief should have escaped from the place he entered from and yet Kuroko found something strange about that. Maybe he should have a talk with Kagami later.

"That guy sounded rather interesting. To think he was the captain of such a strong player before." Kiyoshi mused as they headed back towards the station. "Is that so? That Aomine guy is such a good player?" Kagami questioned curiously. Kuroko tuned them out as Kiyoshi explained to Kagami who Aomine was. He had no need to listen to them talk about someone he knows very well.

"Oi Kuroko." The book he was reading was snatched out of his hands and he looked up to see the culprit glaring at him. "Have you been listening to us?" Kuroko shook his head and grabbed his book back. "I thought the both of you were going to talk about basketball the whole time so I tuned you two out." Kuroko answered truthfully.

Kagami was obviously annoyed but Kuroko paid no attention to that and turned back to his book. "If you're not going to talk about the case, just let me read my book." He ignored Kagami's remark of what a useless partner he had and continued reading his book. There was something he wanted to ask about the case but it would be better when the both of them were alone.

"Nee, Kuroko. What do you think of the case?" Kagami asked him once they were both back in their respective seats. Since Kuroko was being assigned to work with Kagami, his desk was allocated next to him, much to Kagami's chargin. He had always liked the fact that the table next to his was empty and he could speak to himself without worrying that people would judge him.

Kuroko's attention shifted from the book to him and those unreadable light blue eyes focused on him. "Shouldn't Kagami-kun be the one to talk about the case? You're the one with the most information and the detective in charge is you." Kagami scowled at the monotone tone used and his brows furrowed as he spoke up.

The reason he wanted to hear about Kuroko's view was because his instincts were disagreeing with the clues and Hiyoshi's statement. "According to the search, the glass door to the balcony was indeed broken from the outside and since he was living on the second floor and there's a pipe nearby, the thief could have used it to climb up. The safe shown no signs of damage so the thief could be a professional lock picker, the time of the theft is believed to be around slightly after ten in the morning to six in the evening. The neighbours are all working people so most of them wouldn't be around in the building during working hours so the thief could have broken in during that time. The police believe that someone had broken in and the clues seem to fit too. There were signs of the house being searched and the thief most likely made off with what he could carry. That jewellery ser was expensive looking too so the thief knew he could make a fortune from selling it."

"Kagami-kun really thinks that it was done by a professional thief?" Kuroko asked softly and Kagami gazed at him in surprise. Never had someone actually ask for his opinion and actually mean it. "No. My instincts tell me that the owner is the one who faked the theft. I don't have the proof and they won't believe me till I have it. You don't believe me too, do you?"

Kagami heard the book being closed shut and Kuroko's full attention was finally on him. "Why don't you look for the proof to prove that your instincts are right then? If no one believes you, I will. There's nothing wrong with having a theory that doesn't fit the clues, why should you believe what the others think when it isn't proven yet? I trust you and I'm fine with being your partner and your form of support. You have been solving cases on your own accord haven't you?"

The words sank in slowly and his eyes were roaming around Kuroko's face to see if he meant what he said. Kuroko's face was hard to read and Kagami chuckled as he ruffled Kuroko's hair. His hand was slapped away soon and Kuroko was glaring at him as he straightened out his hair. "I have. But you do know that my way of solving crimes revolves a lot around my instincts which no one else believes in right?"

Kagami had to laugh at that. Hyuuga had never believed in his instincts and was always pressing him to solve crimes the right way. Everyone else just stay clear from him whenever he tells them his theory and they would all only help him when it was something that would not get them into trouble. "Like I said, I trust you and I believe in your methods. Seeing that you trust your instincts so much, it has never gone wrong before right? If that's the case, why should you stop trusting it then? If it matter so much to you, I will be the brains behind your instincts and make you the number one detective here. Just like a shadow created by a light, I will do my best to support you."

The statement caught Kagami in surprise. So Kuroko really did mean what he say? He knew he must be smiling now, those words were something he never thought he would ever hear. The part about making the number one detective was less important than those other words. "Make me the number one detective here? Aren't you thinking too highly of yourself? But you're much more interesting than I thought. Why not? If that's what you decided to do, I see no reason why I should stop you. So how are you planning to prove my view correct, person who's going to be my brains?"

"By checking on Imayoshi-san's details first. I overheard that he bought insurance for the jewellery set so he could be in need of money and faked the theft to cheat insurance money." Kagami considered the possibility and his instincts seemed to agree with that too so Kuroko should be on the right track. "I will check that out and Kagami-kun should go and see if the insurance company is going to pay him for it."

Kagami scowled at the order and he resisted the urge to just yell and ask who was the real person in charge was. But he had to admit that he would not know how to do it without just jumping in straight without getting in trouble with Hyuuga again. He had no choice but to follow Kuroko's suggestion and just see how that would work. Investigating and collecting information was never something he liked doing and he usually skipped out on such. That was why he had so many problems with Hyuuga and the rest….

"Fine." Kuroko gave him a nod and he was soon typing away on the computer. Glancing at him for another moment, Kagami smiled and turned towards his own desk. He had work to do and for the first time ever, he had a partner who he could count on. No, the real important thing was that he had someone that trusted him, trusted his weird ways of solving crimes.

"So what did you find out?" Kagami asked as they ate breakfast together. It was sort of weird since he was used to eating alone and he did not expect Kuroko to actually accept his invitation to dine together. Kuroko did not judge him when he mentioned he was one to use his instincts to solve crimes and neither did he say a word when Kagami ordered meat for breakfast while others would always look at him strangely for that. "Imayoshi-san's father recently lost a great deal of money in gambling and the debt's rather huge. I checked his financial status and he didn't seem to have enough to cover it." Kuroko answered while taking a sip of his drink.

Kagami stuffed a forkful of meat into his mouth and chewed before sharing his own information. "The insurance company is going to compensate him for it and the amount's rather huge too. There's the motive and everything but we still lack the proof for it." Stabbing his fork into another piece of meat, Kagami's brows furrowed together as he tried to think of any clues he had missed out during the investigation.

"The proof won't be that easy to find. It's Imayoshi-san, we're talking about. He's a rather cunning and smart guy." Kuroko's face seemed to have darkened while he talked about him and Kagami wondered how Kuroko knew that. "You know him?" Kuroko shook his head and his facial expression was back to his usual one.

"Not really. I checked his background and his grades were really high and his statement and answers to all the questions were flawless. That shows his cunningness doesn't it? He seemed to have a model answer for everything and all the questions were answered in a few seconds." Now that Kuroko mentioned it, Imayoshi did answer everything is a rather fast way….almost like he had already prepared answers for such possible questions.

Still, they were lacking the evidence to prove that this was a cleverly thought up plot to cheat insurance money. "There's something I have been thinking that it's weird for a while now. You remember those glass pieces on the ground right?" Kuroko continued when Kagami nodded his head in a confused manner. "There were traces of some of the glass pieces missing from the ground and there were glass pieces inside. So it means that the thief must have stepped on those glass pieces by accident and some of the pieces fell from his shoe when he went in. The thief was suspected to escape from the same place he came in from right? But there weren't any traces of glass on the balcony railing he should have needed to step near the pipe he would be using to escape. There weren't any sign of an object he used to break the glass door too. Isn't it strange that there were signs of the glass pieces being stepped on when he entered the house but no signs of it when he escaped? Even if he walked the same path, he should still have stepped on some glass pieces and yet there was nothing. How was a thief supposed to climb a pipe while keeping an object that could break the glass door into pieces? If he was carrying a bag, there's no way he would have escaped with just a box of jewellery and not some other stuff. It's not a simple case of getting away with just things that he could carry. There were other valuables that he could have taken too."

Kagami had to admit that Kuroko had a point there. Those were good points but they still needed something more solid to prove that Imayoshi was the culprit. "I checked and it turns out that Imayoshi-san was away from the office around one to three in the afternoon. He had a meeting near his house and he was said to have eaten lunch before he went back to his work place. I managed to call the person he was meeting and he said that Imayoshi and him parted ways around one forty."

"So that's why you had us walking around the food places near here before you finally decided on where to eat." Kagami finally understood why Kuroko had him all the way here to have their meal and why Kuroko had asked him to wait outside before he was left the place. "I did some poking around before I found out that he was here for his lunch yesterday. He left this place around two twenty and it only takes him at most ten minutes to walk over to his work place. There was a missing gap of thirty minutes that he could have caused the fake break-in."

Kagami grinned, looks like Kuroko was thinking along the same line as him. "I checked with the bank earlier too. He visited his safe around seven last night after work and according to the workers, he was putting in something and the only thing he took out was a small box. Do you think that could be the jewellery set he placed there?"

Kuroko shrugged and Kagami blinked as he noticed the open book in Kuroko's hand. When did he open that book? "I'm not sure. He could have done that and he might have taken something random from the box as a way to throw off suspicion as to why he went to the safe. How did you know he placed something in anyway?"

"According to two of the workers who saw him passed by them, he had a box stuffed in his jacket and when he came out, the box wasn't there anymore and in its place was a smaller box in his hands. They only noticed it because they were standing on his left side and they could see part of it on his right underneath his jacket, almost like he was hiding it." That was very suspicion and Kagami stuffed the rest of his food into his mouth.

Now that they had a motive and the clues, he just needed to check and if the jewellery set really was in the safe, he would have all the proof he had. His sleeve was grabbed and he glared at Kuroko who had a firm grip on it. "Kagami-kun, calm down. We can't just storm into the bank and demand that they let us see the safe. They won't agree when it's against the bank's policy to give away their customer's privacy. We'll have to seek permission before we do that."

Kagami agreed reluctantly. He had enough warnings for this term already and if he had another one, chances are that Hyuuga would suspend him for a short period of time. He raised his fist up and offered it to Kuroko who blinked before bumping it with his own. "Let's both do our best to get this case solved." Kagami was in a good mood and he failed to notice Kuroko's change in facial expression when he retracted his fist back.

After wasting time telling Hyuuga and Kiyoshi about his theory and about all the possible clues they had gathered, they finally gotten the permission to check it out. Hyuuga still doubted them but Kiyoshi seemed to think that their thoughts could be true since he thought it was suspicious how the answers to the questions they asked were answered so quickly.

"So the police is suspecting me of trying to cheat money by stealing my own valuable and claiming insurance for it? Don't I need a motive for that though?" Imayoshi asked and Kagami was starting to get why Kuroko called him cunning when he watched his eyes carefully. "Your father's gambling debt." That was all Kagami replied.

Imayoshi did not give up and continued arguing. Kagami answered calmly with the information that both Kuroko and him found out. Imayoshi was persistent though and his points were all quickly said to be unproved. "If you're certain you're innocent, there isn't really a problem to open the safe now is there? You can just open it and we will be on our way after checking and affirming that there isn't anything." Kuroko finally spoke up and Kagami watched in surprise as Imayoshi widened his eyes and there was a sudden gleam in his eyes.

"You got me there. I didn't notice that you were here—" Kagami wondered if it was just his imagination or Imayoshi was going to continue his sentence before Kuroko interrupted him. "I was here right from the start. Now can you just open the safe?" Imayoshi locked gazes with Kuroko for a short while before smirking and turning to the safe. Had Kuroko words convinced him to open it? That was strange.

The safe was opened and there was a dark blue box like the two workers mentioned inside. Kagami grabbed hold of the box and the others started checking out the other things in the safe. Kagami's face fell when the box turned out to hold some coins and nothing more. "I gues—" He did not get to finish his words when Kuroko took the box away from him.

He blinked in surprise as Kuroko opened the box and scooped up the coins and placing them in his palm. He was hitting the inner part of the box lightly before he turned towards Imayoshi. "There's a hidden compartment in the box isn't it?"Imayoshi looked stunned before he grinned. "I guess that's no hiding it now. Even if I deny it, you will find a way to break it open and when that happens, the jewellery inside might get damaged."

The box was passed over to him and Kagami watched in wonder as the hidden compartment came into view and a jewellery that looked exactly the same as the picture he saw of the stolen one. "Looks like I underestimated the police force. I was too confident that my plan was full-proof that I failed to notice of the small slip-ups I did. The one who found something strange about them was you, right?"

Imayoshi was looking straight at Kuroko when he spoke that. "Just like an observant person to notice such small details. To think that my full-proof plan gave way just because of you and how you grew suspicious because of such things that most people would overlook." Kuroko was silent and Kagami decided to speak up when his partner shown no signs of wanting to speak.

He explained that the both of them were suspicious from the start and the way Imayoshi acted did not help to ease their suspicion. Imayoshi was still only looking at Kuroko despite what he said, like Kuroko was the main reason why his plan failed. "Good bye, shadow."

Kagami watched puzzledly as Imayoshi was taken away. Who was that directed to? Kuroko was sticking his nose back in his book again and Kagami knew it was pointless to talk to him when he seemed so engrossed in his book. It was the first time that he had solved a crime without getting in any trouble and Hyuuga seemed surprised that his instincts was correct for this case. Kagami grinned and offered his fist to Kuroko again, but his fist was opened and Kuroko lightly high-fived him back instead. He was unable to ask why Kuroko did that when they were interrupted by Kiyoshi.

"Good job, Kuroko!" Kiyoshi said as he patted Kuroko on the head. His hand was slapped away and Kuroko seemed pissed as he asked him not to touch him. This was like when he ruffled his hair before, Kuroko must really disliked being touched if he got mad from such a gesture. "Tch. So I don't get a thanks but he does?" Kagami grumbled before Kiyoshi ruffled his hair too. "This wasn't what I meant!"

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_**[[A/N: So the next chapter will be on the main mystery. ]]**_


	2. Chapter 2: Their second case together

_**[[A/N: I was side tracked for a bit so this is the part of the mystery stated in the prompt starts. ]]**_

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He was going to ask Kuroko out for a celebration but the next day, a big case dropped on them. A case that concerned their mayor and the basketball player whose name he recently just learnt. "Wait what? Our mayor is being accused for murdering the secretary of one of her rivals in the next election?" Kagami asked again to make sure he heard Hyuuga correctly. Hyuuga's face was dark and the same thing was present with Kiyoshi.

"The one who called the police is there with her right now so go on your way with Kuroko and the rest." Kagami nodded his head and once again, he was surprised to see that Kuroko was already standing next to him. "What do you think is going on?" Kagami questioned when they were both riding on the car and waiting to reach the place. "A murder scene obviously."

The nonchalant reply irritated him and Kagami turned away from his partner and watched the surroundings instead. How weird for the mayor to kill the secretary of her rival. Would it not be better to just kill her rival directly if she wanted to kill someone? What did she get to gain by killing off her rival's secretary?

"Finally! Took you damn police long enough to get here." A scowling tanned male with short dark blue hair glared at them when they reached the place. "You're Aomine Daiki, the one who called the police right?" Kiyoshi asked and the name rang a bell in Kagami's head. That was the name he heard recently, the so-called strong basketball player.

To think that he would meet him face-to-face under such a situation. "So who are you to the victim and can you explain to me what you saw?" Kagami interrupted and took over once Aomine confirmed that he was the one who called the police. "Satsuki's my childhood friend and I stop by to see her once in a while. I came by earlier and just as I was about to knock on the door, it opened and the person had a panicked look on her face so I looked in and there was Satsuki lying on the ground with foam coming out of her mouth. I managed to grab her before she escaped."

That explained why Aomine was holding on to Aida when they arrived and released his grip on her in disgust when he caught sight of them. After confirming that the victim really was dead, Kagami and the rest were about to start searching for clues when Kuroko spoke up. "There's a necklace stuck in the corner of the drawer." The others turned their attention towards him and both Aomine and Aida along with the others all looked at him in surprise.

Their expression all showed surprise and the unspoken question of when was he there. Kagami ignored it and turned to look at it. Aomine was shouting once he caught sight of the necklace. "You! That's yours isn't it? The only female that would meet her is you." Aida's face paled and Kiyoshi started asking her where the necklace came from.

Kagami turned his attention towards the other suspicious things around and his eyes locked on to the broken mug on the ground along with another one that was half full. "Death by poison?" It was confirmed quickly that the victim, Momoi Satsuki was killed with poison. The broken mug along with the spilled drink came out positive for poison and if Aida was the only one with her during that time, she must have been the murderer.

Both Aida and Aomine were taken back to the station with them, Aomine making things more difficult for them by protesting that they were only suspecting her of possible murder when she obviously was the one who killed his friend. "Tch. And why should I be asked a whole bunch of questions by you guys when none of you even believe me when I tell you that she's the murderer?" Aomine huffed and refused to cooperate with them.

After a long persuasion and the promise that they would look into it deeply to see if Aida was really the murderer, he finally relented. "Fine. But I want him to be the one to ask me." Aomine pointed at Kuroko boredly and to just put an end to all the trouble, Hyuuga gave the okay. Aomine and Kuroko headed off towards the other interrogating room with Kiyoshi behind him.

Kagami along with Hyuuga was in-charge of questioning Aida Riko. No matter how hard they asked, she refused to tell them where the necklace came from even after it was shown that it belonged to her. There were her fingerprints and skin samples on it and yet she kept where she had gotten it from a secret. She denied that she was there in the kitchen too and she had no idea why the necklace was found there.

"But it's your necklace right?" She nodded her head and Kagami soon questioned her if she was so busy trying to spite Momoi's necklace that she failed to notice that her necklace dropped. Aida denied that and claimed that someone must have stolen the necklace and framed it on her. The clues were minimal and besides the mug and necklace, there was barely anything else to help solve the crime.

Suspicion was all on Aida when she was the only one present with Momoi when she was poisoned. "I was framed." She declared again and Kagami questioned who she thinks would be the one responsible for it. "Akashi Seijuro, Momoi's boss." Her answer was quick and she was scowling when she mentioned his name. "To think he would go that far as to kill his own secretary to frame me."

"You don't have the proof to prove that he was the one who did it." Kagami was not sure if she was just saying that to push the blame away. "We'll investigate that." Kagami turned to look at Hyuuga in surprise. They were going to investigate about Akashi just because of Aida's words? Kagami found that strange but Hyuuga's words were law and he would have to follow it.

But still, he had something he wanted to ask first. "Why do you think it's him?" It was strange how she pinpointed that it was him straight without much consideration. "Akashi has always disliked me and he has something against my father and the one that would benefit the most from my arrest is him. He didn't think he could win with his strength so he tried to get rid of the competition through dirty tricks like this. Momoi was going to tell me something about him too."

"That's all what you claim. It's possible that you killed her once you gain the information you want too and Aomine's appearance was something you didn't expect and so you're pushing the blame to Akashi out of desperation." That was one of the possibilities and Akashi could be someone she was worried that would take over her position as mayor in the next election. Hyuuga brushed him off though and promised Aida that he would make sure they check on both Akashi and her.

"How was it on your end?" Kagami asked Kuroko once he spotted his partner back in his seat. "Aomine-san was rather cooperative and after getting the others to check, it was proven that he indeed stopped by after five like he claimed. The neighbours also noticed that a person matching Aida-san's clothing description stopped by around five. According to the report, Momoi-san was already dead around the time that the neighbours spotted Aomine-san and no one else but Aida-san was spotted before Aomine-san came by. Aomine-san only saw Aida-san too and apparently she was going to run off when he saw her. He didn't seem to have much of a motive to kill Momoi-san or frame Aida-san but we're investigating him anyway."

This seemed to put Aida in even more disfavour but Hyuuga seemed strangely certain that she was innocent when he put Kagami in-charge of Akashi's investigation and all the other investigation on the scene of crime was given to Kiyoshi. After Kagami argued that the list of people he had to investigate was too long, Hyuuga gave away half of it to Izuki Shun to investigate. "I questioned her about that and she claimed that she was going to ask for help, not run away. But of course, we only have her word for it since there's no proof of that. We're being assigned to investigate Momoi's boss, Akashi by the way. Aida claims that he's most likely the one that's framing her for this and the chief has already decided that we would check on him and the other people close to him and Momoi."

Kuroko's face was the same as always and Kagami reflected that Kuroko might have already considered this. He had to admit that his partner was very observant and less useless like he thought. "I guess we're starting with Akashi-san then. It's a little late now so I guess we have to start this tomorrow." His partner was way too polite too, he was attaching a suffix to practically everyone now that he thinks about it.

Akashi Seijuro was a dangerous person, Kagami soon learnt that. His bodyguard and assistant that he had with him was really tall and he could see why Akashi had him as a body guard. That body frame was good enough to scare lots of people away. Exactly how tall was he? He had to shake his head to focus at his job at hand. "Satsuki died? What happened? I thought she was late because she wasn't feeling well."

His face showed no signs that he knew of it before Kagami opened his mouth but his instincts were telling him this was not a real expression. That was not important right now and before he could even answer Akashi's question, Akashi was already speaking again. "You came here to question me right? Step inside my office then. There's more privacy there." Akashi walked into his office and Murasakibara, his bodyguard entered behind him and without his knowledge, Kuroko was already in the office.

"Do you have any idea what's the relationship between your secretary and Aida Riko?" According to Kuroko, Aomine was unsure of Momoi's relationship with Aida too. This better helped them to get a better clue. Murasakibara answered the question and Kagami supposed they were close enough to not share secrets if Murasakibara was supposed to follow Akashi almost everywhere and they apparently stayed together too.

"Huh? Sat-chin's close with Aka-chin's rival? I didn't know that. Did you, Aka-chin?" Kagami rose an eyebrow at the choice of names, were those nicknames for Momoi and Akashi? "I wasn't aware of that too, Atsushi. You don't know what's their relationship too, right?" Akashi's words were directed to him and Kagami nodded his head.

How did he know that he was not sure of that and not just testing if Akashi knew about the relationship between those two? "Could we learn of your time schedule for yesterday?" Kuroko finally spoke up and Kagami was not surprised to see Akashi's facial expression not changing. For some reason, Akashi seemed to be an irritating people that gave off a know-it-all aura, especially with that question earlier.

"Yesterday? Atsushi, why don't you tell them?" Akashi was looking through the paperwork he had on his desk and despite his apologetic tone, Kagami felt that he did not mean it. "Sorry but I'm rather busy with my work and now that Satsuki isn't around, I have even more stuff to look through. You don't mind if Atsushi answer those questions now do you? He was with me the whole time so he should be able to answer anything unless it's something personal."

Kagami gave the okay seeing that it did not matter who spoke as long as he got the information he wanted. "Aka-chin was in the office till two and we had a late lunch in the cafeteria across the road around that time and after that, we were back in the office around two-fifty I believe. There was a talk that Aka-chin attended at five all the way till six and we went back home after that."

After a few more questions, they were finally able to leave. "Now we just have to verify if what they said were true. I already contacted someone to check it up for them so we're going to question those people who are acquainted with Momoi and Akashi. "And that would be?" Kagami glanced at the list Hyuuga gave him to check on after hearing Kuroko's question. "Someone by the name of Kise Ryota. He's apparently the spoke person for one of Akashi's sponsors and a friend of Momoi's."

"Ah. You mean the rather popular model then." Kagami's face was a blank and Kuroko explained to him who exactly Kise was. "Kise Ryota?" Kagami questioned once he spotted a blonde with a earring on his left ear. That was the description Kuroko gave him a while ago. "I am. And you are?" Those golden brown orbs looked at him suspiciously and Kagami could understand why he was looking at him like that. He would have done the same if he was in Kise's shoes.

Well….to him, Kise was okay he supposed. He did not really get why he was that popular or maybe he just did not care about appearances. "Kagami Taiga. A detective of the police force." Kagami showed his pass and Kise stared closely at it before looking back up. "So you're here to talk to me for some reason?" Kise still seemed suspicious of him and they were drawing up a crowd and people were looking over at them.

"Do you mind if we go somewhere with lesser people to talk?" Kise shrugged and nodded his head in agreement. "I suppose I'm free for a talk if it's less than fifteen minutes. I have something on after this." Kise was looking at him again and Kagami was getting irritated how Kise seemed to be suspicious of him and yet he was looking at Kuroko like he was more trustworthy.

"Fifteen's minute enough." Kise nodded and pointed to the direction of a building. "My house's nearby so you might as well go there." Once they were properly settled in Kise's living room, Kise spoke up again. "So what exactly are you here for?" Kagami stole a glance at Kuroko and said male was reading his book again. With a sigh, he knew he was on his own again. His partner was only useful when he was not looking at his book and paying attention towards the case.

Turning his attention back towards Kise, he spoke up again. "You're the spoke person for one of Akashi Seijuro's sponsors and a friend of Momoi Satsuki right?" Kise stared at him confusedly while he answered his question. "You mean Midorima-cchi? I'm the spoke person for his company alright and I'm indeed friends with Momo-cchi. Has something happened to one of them?" Kagami groaned inwardly at yet another strange nickname.

Are all these people unable to just call each other by their names directly? "Momoi Satsuki passed away yesterday. She was poisoned to death and her childhood friend reported the death to us." Kise's eyes widened in shock and the pen he was playing around with dropped. "What? Momo-cchi's dead? You can't be serious! And Aomime-cchi was the one who called the police? He's so mean to not inform me of something important like this! Are you by any chance here because you suspect me for it?"

"Not exactly. We're just here to ask you some questions and to find out something. You're friends with Aomine?" That was something he was not aware of. If Kise was asking him if he suspected him of being the murderer, he really must not know that Aida was charged for the case. "I am. I met him through Momo-cchi, although he doesn't contact me much. He's so cool when he's playing basketball!" Apparently that was the wrong thing to ask when Kise started sidetracking towards Aomine and Kagami had to quickly ask another question to stop him.

" Have you met Akashi lately?" Kise shook his head and Kagami moved on to ask the next question. "Do you know that Momoi was close with Aida Riko?" If he had not met Akashi lately, then he would not be able to help them with Akashi much. Besides, he only knew Akashi indirectly and Kagami doubted that one of the candidates for mayor would actually spend the time to meet with a spoke person from his sponsor's company.

"Eh? Isn't that the current mayor and Momo-cchi's boss's rival? Why would she be with her?" Kagami frowned at the answer. Looks like he was still unable to uncover what their relationship was and with Aida refusing to tell them anything, this was going to be hard to prove her innocence if she really was not guilty.

Kuroko was still busy with his book, at least that was what he thought till Kuroko spoke up. "Where were you around four to five?" The question was asked while Kuroko was still reading his book and Kagami shook his head at how unprofessional his partner was. Not that he could argue when he was not a good example himself.

"Erm…I believe I was at a photo shoot till four? It should be around that time. I went home after that. My house doesn't have those security cameras installed so if you want to check that out, you wouldn't be able to and I was home alone." That was going to be hard to check if it was true if his house lacked those cameras. But he should be covered slightly if they managed to confirm that he really was at a photo shoot at that time.

Kise lacked a motive to kill her too. From how he acted where he learnt of her death was one of sadness of losing an important friend and his instincts were telling him that it was not an act and he really was upset at that. "Can I have the rest of your schedule?" His schedule seemed normal enough for a model although his lunch meeting was something a little unusual.

"Midorima Shintaro's next." Kagami informed Kuroko once they were done with Kise. There was a few more names after that and Kagami decided that Midorima would be the last person they talk to before they eat lunch. Kuroko was back to reading and Kagami simply assumed that his words were heard by his partner.

"Oh? Two detectives here to question me? I wasn't aware that I did anything to deserve the honour for your visit." They were in Midorima's office after his secretary directed them in. "You're one of the sponsors for Akashi right?" Midorima's office was normal looking, despite there having a strange frog toy beside him.

The obvious sarcasm was apparent in his voice and Kagami was quick to start questioning to get it over and done with. "We're here because Momoi Satsuki, Akashi Seijuro's secretary has been poisoned." Midorima was looking at him calmly and Kagami found it suspicious that he was so unfeeling towards it.

He soon understood the reason for that when Midorima spoke up. "I'm not close with her if that's what you're asking. I only talk to her whenever I need to make an appointment with Akashi and since she's his secretary, the one who manages our meeting is her. I believe she's a friend of my company's spoke person too, but that's all. You can't possibly be suspecting me of killing someone who I don't even know well."

So this was a person who was not aware that Aida was suspected for it. The media had no clue about that since Hyuuga kept it a secret. After asking for his schedule which corresponded with Kise's since Kise said that he was meeting him for lunch at one. An interview at four so he could not be the murderer? Kagami could not be sure till they finished investigating and made sure that what he said was all true. Strangely, time passed by faster than he thought too.

Kagami found it weird that he had spent more than ten minutes there when the last time he checked his watch, it was just around six minutes. There was a gap missing and his head was feeling funny too. Maybe he was just not feeling well and messed up the calculation of the time. Kuroko answered that they did spend that much time in there and maybe time just passed faster than he thought.

Shrugging it off, he concentrated on checking his remaining list and getting a quick bite before they moved on to the next case. The rest of their afternoon proceeded the same way and they checked one by one about people who could have assisted Akashi in the murder of Momoi. The check-up for the people's schedule were all proven true and Kagami approached Hyuuga to talk about what he found out along with Kiyoshi and Izuki who had both returned.

"Akashi's and all the people who could have helped him had their time schedule proven true. None of them were able to be around and spite her drink before Aida came. It would be nearly impossible for them to be able to spite her drink and get her to drink it before she died. No one could have hired a killer when she was killed with poison in her own home. The most suspicious people that you mentioned were Kise Ryouta, the model that's friends with both Momoi Satsuki and Aomine Daiki and the spoke person of Akashi's sponsor, Midorima Shintaro. But both of their time schedules were proven to be as they claimed, except for Kise's absence for one part. But the timing for that it's a little off for him to be at the scene of the crime." Kagami reported from the list that Kuroko had complied for him earlier.

"I guess it's my turn next." Izuki announced. "Like Kagami, the people on my list had their time schedule confirmed and I ran some checks on them. None of them contacted someone they usually don't and the numbers are all pretty consistent. Especially for Akashi's case. All the numbers he would receive from are his sponsors and apparently his body guard and workers. No one not related to work had been contacted."

Looks like this was going to be harder to prove Aida's innocence if none of them were able to find proof that would show that Akashi was guilty. Kagami still did not get why Hyuuga believed her and got them to investigate Akashi's so thoroughly that they had to check on people who are associated with him too. Now they only had Kiyoshi's report left and that would be the last thing they had before they decide whether or not Aida was guilty of the crime. Judging from Kiyoshi's face, most likely it was not the kind of news that Hyuuga would want.

"Besides the kitchen, we checked all the other parts of her home. The only unusual thing about Momoi Satsuki's home was just the mug near the sink when all the others are in the cabinet. It's washed carefully and the only fingerprints found there was Momoi's so we cancelled it off as a clue. Her guest room was unmade but that didn't exactly mean that someone else was there. It's normal for people to only clean up their guestroom when they have someone going to stay there so it wasn't much of a clue either. The neighbours and Aomine both proved that Aida was the only one who was around. If there was someone else in the house, Aida and Aomine would have noticed that. The time when they saw Aomine was like the rest of you know, was supported by the neighbours. I hate to say this, but there really isn't any clues left in the place besides the necklace, the broken mug and the mug that Aida drank from. The poison was most likely in a capsule that melted away in the drink by the time we arrive and the one that could put that in was just Aida." Hyuuga's face was serious and Kagami had never seen him that annoyed before.

"According to her, Momoi was the one who prepared the drink though. We don't have any proof to prove that the statement is true and both mugs had her fingerprints on them. Her argument was that she carried them over for Momoi since Momoi was carrying the snacks." Kagami sighed, looks like the clues were all pointing towards her now. Everything was just in her disfavour.

Was there anything he could say to prove her innocent? His instincts were strangely telling him that she was innocent though but he had to push it away and voice out his opinion from Hyuuga's statement. "That doesn't help her much too. She could have added in the poison capsule when she carried the mugs without Momoi's knowledge too. I hate to say this, but the clues all point to her and right from the start, we only had her word that she was innocent. There's no clues pointing to Akashi and the things she claimed all lacked proof. It doesn't help when she doesn't tell us anything about the necklace we found besides the fact that it belongs to her."

Hyuuga's face darkened and it was apparent that his next choice of words was spoken out with a heavy heart. His eyes were closed shut before he opened them with a finality gleam in his eyes that seemed that he had forced himself to accept the outcome. "It's concluded then. This case's closed. Due to all the evidence pointing to only Aida Riko and all other possibilities being proved to be impossible, I hereby declare that Aida Riko is the murderer of Momoi Satsuki."

He supposed this was the end of it, but why exactly were Hyuuga and Kiyoshi pulling a long face? Even Izuki seemed a little shaken that the case was closed like that. Because it was hard to believe that the murderer would do such a thing? Kagami was unsure but that was the case right? The chances of them being close acquaintances seemed unlikely although he had to admit that it might be true. Aida did seem to know Kiyoshi and Hyuuga when she saw that and that explained why Hyuuga was that determined to prove her innocent. It was not his place to ask that and he left the three males alone.

"So how was the case, Kagami-kun?" Kuroko was reading yet another Sherlock Holmes book and Kagami found it hard to make himself smile despite the case being solved. Seeing those three's expressions made it impossible for him to take any joy in finishing a case, even more so when the mayor is the one committing the crime. "It's concluded that Aida Riko did it."

Neither of them spoke much after that and Kuroko had excused himself quickly once his work shift was over. Kagami did not want to talk much either. His mind was still very much unsettled and he wanted to go over the case again. The clues he had gathered along with the other clues and everything seemed amiss, like there was something he was missing out. Only way to get rid of that feeling was to go through over everything again. Kagami knew how he was going to pass the rest of his night…..

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_**[[A/N: The explanations for this would be found in the next chapter along with a twist. ]]**_


	3. Chapter 3: The bitter truth

_**[[A/N: The explanations for the right actual murder starts here. ]]**_

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"Kuroko? Fancy seeing you here. I was just about to look for you." Kagami was surprised to see the person he was just about to call to discuss the murder case of Momoi Satsuki. It was concluded yesterday who the murderer was and they had it all settled already. Despite all the evidence that they gathered that pointed to Aida Riko as the murderer, he still felt like something was amiss and she was innocent of the crime. His instinct had never failed him and something about how their evidence just pointed to her felt weird.

Like there were clues around that he failed to notice and someone was covering up that the murderer was someone else. Yesterday he had spoken up that the evidence were just pointing to her but despite all that, last night all his head could think of was how strange that Aida was so certain that she was innocent and if she really planned to kill Momoi, it was done too sloppily. He had even went over all the clues again and nothing new came up despite that.

Kagami yawned sleepily. He spent most of his night going through every bit of information again and most of his theories were all crossed out easily. That was why he was approaching Kuroko, he wanted to hear his views on the case. "Is that so, Kagami-kun? Why don't we talk somewhere more private then? You look like you want to talk about something that you don't want someone listening in. I know of an empty building near here if you want to head there."

Kagami nodded his head and an empty building was going to be more private than any other place he could think of and he would be able to talk about the case without any worries. This was not something he could speak without worrying about someone eavesdropping on him.

"So Kagami-kun. What you want to talk about is Aida-san's case right?" Kuroko was looking at him with those blank eyes which he still could not read despite working with him for a while already. "Yes. I can't help but feel like something isn't right like the evidence is way too perfect for it to not be framed... There are a few things that I don't understand either but my instincts is telling me that someone else did it."

Kuroko seemed to be processing his words and Kagami knew Kuroko would not judge him for trusting his instincts unlike the chief police, Hyuuga. "Who do you think is the murderer then?" Kuroko ask in a soft voice and Kagami smiled as he heard that. Looks like he was right to think that his partner would believe him when he said that. Kuroko should know that his instincts were usually right despite them only working on just another case besides this one together.

"I'm not sure yet but I'm certain the murderer's someone else. Maybe we could revisit the scenes again and check for clues we missed out or there were people we didn't interviewed yet that could prove her innocence. Hyuuga seems certain for her to be innocent too and I don't buy the reason why they claim for her to kill Momoi Satsuki." Kagami was puzzled as to why his gut feeling and the evidence seemed to be on opposite terms. He had never felt like the evidence was different from what he thought before.

Sure he was rash and often went a little too extreme with things but he always managed to solve the case and then his mind would be off the matter. This time his brain was still thinking about the case even after he stated that the evidence all pointed to Aida Riko to be the murderer and all the other officers thought that way too with the exception of Hyuuga, Kiyoshi and Izuki. Could planned evidence be that elaborate that he was not able to pick up the loose threads and find something that they failed to cover?

Like someone had been cleaning up after the real murderer and making sure he would not be able to find anything to point to the real murderer. "You don't know? But I guessed you already exceeded my expectations for you, Kagami-kun. To think you would be able to tell that someone else was the murderer despite all the evidence that pointed to Aida-san as the murderer. Your instincts really are something and dangerous like we thought it to be."

Kagami blinked confusedly at Kuroko's words. Kuroko sounded like he already knew who the real murderer was and what did he mean by 'we'? Who was he talking about? "Huh? Kuroko, what are you talking about? I don't get you." Kuroko's face was expressionless like always and as usual he could not get what he was thinking.

"Oh? Haven't you figured it out yet, Kagami-kun? Your instincts must be failing you if you still can't tell if I'm on your side or not. You were suspicious of me when I first came didn't you? Looks like time spent with me had dulled your instincts on me and you ceased to think of me as someone you shouldn't trust." Kuroko's tone was rather cold and Kagami was getting more and more confused by the second. His brain could not understand what Kuroko was saying. He was not exactly smart but detective work worked for him since his instincts and gut feeling always helped him with solving cases more than his brain.

It was true that for some reason his gut feeling told him not to trust Kuroko and that he was dangerous. But look at him, Kuroko was rather small for a male his age and he looked rather weak with how thin his wrists are and everything. His skills from reading mystery books came in handy and he was definitely smarter than him though. "You're my partner why won't I trust you? You don't happen to have an idea on who's the real murderer is right?"

There was still the feeling that Kuroko knew who the murderer was or at least have an idea who the possible culprits could be. And like Kuroko said, his instincts had not dulled to stop telling him that Kuroko was dangerous. Even now he still could not tell which part of Kuroko was dangerous that his mind kept yelling at him to not trust him and stay away from him. Kuroko's words helped him more than caused harm to him.

"The murderer? I believe it's Aomine-kun." Kagami was thinking about the possibility of the murderer being Aomine before it hit him that Kuroko was referring to Aomine in a casual manner. "Since when did you start calling him Aomine-kun?" Kuroko stared at him with a smile that Kagami had never seen before. "I have always called him Aomine-kun since we first met. Isn't that right, Aomine-kun? You're the murderer right?"

A loud chuckle was heard and Kagami turned his head around to watch as Aomine stepped out and casually swung an arm around Kuroko's shoulders and rested his head on Kuroko's head. "As expected of Tetsu. I knew you would get it right that I was the one who killed Satsuki. No doubt my partner."

"Tetsu? Since when were the both of you that close and what do you mean by partner?" Kagami stared at the pair and Aomine smirked as he tilted Kuroko's chin up and kissed him. What astonished him the most was that Kuroko was kissing him back and he had closed his eyes too. Exactly what was this scene he was seeing right now and why was everything so confusing?

Aomine was Momoi's childhood friend, why would he kill her for no reason and planted the crime on Aida Riko? What had he got to gain from that and Kuroko and Aomine were acting like they knew each other long before the case and their relationship seemed rather intimate too. Kagami was pretty sure that they only met after Aomine was called in for questioning and they were definitely strangers back then if Aomine did not even notice Kuroko.

Another round of laughter was heard as Kagami watched as four more people stood around him. "Looks like Aomine-cchi had enough of tolerating for so long that he's kissing Kuroko-cchi right in front of you." Kise commented as he whistled as Aomine and Kuroko pulled away from each other. Midorima was looking elsewhere, Murasakibara was munching on some snack and the one suspected of framing the crime on Aida, Akashi Seijuro was standing in front of him too.

"Tch. What are you looking so surprised for? Tetsu here has been my partner for years; did you think you could take my place so easily? Did you really think that Tetsu meant what he said to be your partner? We've always been close; the pretending to not know each other was an act. Tetsu acted like he didn't know any of us during the investigation didn't he?" Aomine said in a smug way and he still had his arm around Kuroko.

Kuroko locked gazes with Kagami for a second before turning his gaze towards Aomine. "Aomine-kun, you seem displeased. I wasn't away for that long." His tone sounded amused and Kagami was surprised that Kuroko actually showed emotions in his voice and expression. Because the look on Kuroko's face was a pleased one and the only face he saw Kuroko had was a blank monotone one and never one that actually showed what he was feeling.

"That's because Mine-chin hasn't been happy since he saw Kuro-chin acting all friendly with him. Mine-chin doesn't even like any of us to come too close to Kuro-chin, of course he's displeased and Kuro-chin was away rather long too." Murasakibara answered as he bit into another chocolate bar.

Kagami was having problems processing all this. The six of them were acquainted well enough that they knew each other for a long time? And Aomine was the murderer? It made sense if Aomine knew Akashi and Akashi was the one who instigated Aomine to kill Momoi. It was still strange that he would go that far to kill his childhood friend that easily too.

Where did Kuroko fit in all this and by Kuroko's question earlier, it was like he was not entirely sure that Aomine was the one who killed her. Kuroko leaned back towards Aomine and a soft smile was seen on his face. Kagami stared at the smile and for a moment, his brain stopped thinking. Kuroko actually had such a nice smile and he never showed that to him or the rest? Exactly who were Aomine and the rest to him?

"Shut up, Murasakibara. You make it sound like I'm jealous of a guy like that getting close to Tetsu. Tetsu was only using him, why would I be jealous?" Aomine huffed and glared at Murasaibara. "Is that so? Who was the one that has been rather pissed and gets irritated by small matters lately?" Midorima questioned with a smug smile.

Kagami ignored them and decided to speak up before he gets even more confused by their conversations. "What is all this supposed to mean? Aomine is the murderer and Kuroko was just using me? And why do all of you seem like old friends? If I remember correctly, all your jobs aren't exactly related to each other's and not all of you know each other."

Akashi being one of the people running for Mayor, Kise was a model, Murasakibara was Akashi's bodyguard and assistant, Midorima was the owner of one of those fortune merchandise business and giving people their daily fortune and luck, Aomine was a popular basketball player and if he remembered correctly, Kuroko was working in a book store before he joined the police force as a detective. Akashi and Murasakibara was only close with Midorima and Midorima knew Kise besides Akashi and Murasakibara. Kise knew Aomine and Momoi and Aomine did not know Akashi, Murasakibara and Midorima.

Kagami felt a cold chill go down his spine when Akashi finally spoke up and glanced at him. Those yes felt dangerous and even his tone was cold. "Oh? You obviously didn't do a thorough job in going through our history if all you know is our jobs. That was on purpose though. We made it seemed like we had nothing to do with each other by making our jobs different from each other and appearing like we weren't close. Atsushi only listens to me so I had to have him work me but the rest of them weren't interested in politics so I let them to do jobs that they're interested in. They're still work for me though."

They still work for him? What did he mean by that? Kagami tried to think of what he missed out when he investigated their past since Akashi said he did not check thoroughly. "What had I missed out?" That could explain why his instinct was telling him that they were somehow related to each other that he had buried and not voiced out for it to be unusual. Akashi's smirk widened and suddenly, Kagami wondered if he really wanted to know what that was.

"You still haven't figured it out yet? It's our Middle School. All six of us graduated from the same school and if you investigated our link thoroughly, you would know that we were on the same basketball team. That's how we met each other. Although the six of us went our separate ways and studied in different High Schools, none of us lost contact with each other." Midorima sighed as he finished explaining the thing Kagami still seemed lost about.

The fact that they knew each other beforehand still had nothing to do with the case and why were they telling him this? Akashi gave him a pitied look and spoke up again. "You look lost. I guess I should explain this in a clearer way. Have you heard of the Kiseki No Sedai?" He asked in a calm manner and Kagami's eyes widened at the name.

How could he not know that name? It was the name of the most famous underground group ever and the one that the police force was never able to capture. What they knew was that there were five professional members who could kill a person easily and despite them leaving a symbol with different numbers to show that they were the killer, the police were clueless about their identity.

No one knew of their real identity and much less knows how to contact them easily. They were the one who contact people and despite the police's best efforts, they were able to get away with their dealings and they were soon dubbed as the Kiseki No Sedai, a group that was able to do what they want without getting caught was like a miracle. They could kill someone without any one tracing it back to them and Kagami knew most of the unsolved cases were thanks to them. Even people who met them were unable to pinpoint them out since they were wearing masks and the atmosphere around them was frightening, especially the leader.

The only clue was that they were represented by colours. The leader was coded as Red and the other members were Purple, Blue, Green and Yellow. Even with his instincts he was unable to figure them out or even get a clue of what they were after. "What has that got to do with anything?" Kagami asked as he watched them all smile slowly. "I can't believe a slowpoke like you was Tetsu's partner even if it was for a while. Isn't it obvious? How many members of the group do you know about, the code names for them and what did all the people killed have in common?" Aomine asked in a bored manner and Kagami registered those words to his head.

"They were either working in the government or the underground, sometimes both. And the Kiseki No Sedai have five members— Wait, don't tell me that's the five of you? I still don't get what Kuroko have to do with all these." If there were five members of the ground, then why did Kuroko fit in? He seemed normal compared to the rest of them.

The danger level he felt from Kuroko was minimal compared to the rest; it was like he felt no killer intent from him at all despite his mind telling him that he was dangerous. "Finally, you're getting somewhere. You don't seem to figure out where the codenames come from yet though. Have you noticed? The first kanji of each of our surnames, doesn't it represent a colour? Haven't you heard of the phantom sixth member of the group? The one that people rumoured about and codenamed him Black because he was like a shadow and barely anyone notices him? Doesn't that ring a bell?"

Realisation hit him and if what Aomine said about codenames being related to their surnames, then Kuroko's name would be Black and Kagami doubted that there would be someone as unnoticeable as Kuroko. "That's Kuroko…..? He's part of the Kiseki No Sedai along with the five of you?" Betrayal was apparent in his tone. So he was played? Everything that Kuroko said to him was a lie then?

"You were lying to me all this time? That time when you said you believed in me and my ways of solving crimes and how you would make me the number one detective that no one else would question my methods was a lie?" Kagami locked gaze with Kuroko in anger and said male only returned his glare with a blank stare.

Kuroko grasped Aomine's free hand with his own and the usual normal expressionless face was there again. "I really did find your instincts to be something dangerous, that wasn't a lie. And indeed, I'm a member of the Kiseki No Sedai. My lack of presence made people hard to sense me even if I was standing there during the meeting and I usually work in the shadows anyway. I'm the one who clean up the mess the others do after they killed their victims and the one who usually gets rid of the evidence and push it to Akashi-kun's rivals or make it untraceable. My partner is usually Aomine-kun though, since he's the most reckless of the group and the one I work best with."

So the renowned Kiseki No Sedai had one of the people running for Mayor as their boss? No wonder Akashi seemed to have enough money to run for votes Midorima was sponsoring him. "….Why were you working in the Police force then? Won't it be risky if you worked there and what exactly is the purpose of Kiseki No Sedai?" Kagami did not understand why Kuroko was working in the Police force and he even solved a mystery for them too.

Akashi was the one who spoke up this time. "Our purpose? I'm always right so my orders are absolute. I will kill anyone who opposes me or dare to order me around. Kiseki No Sedai started off when those pathetic weak politicians thought they could kill me off by hiring people from the underground. I contacted Daiki, Tetsuya, Ryouta, Atsushi and Shintaro out and told them about those attempts of killing on me. They were all pretty mad about it and wanted revenge for me. It was simple, I told them how to utilise their talents to help them in achieving the goal and before I knew it, we were dubbed as the Kiseki No Sedai and people feared us. Besides, we don't kill people that don't deserve to die, just those who think they could rule and not listen to me or did something wrong. Ryouta's charms in going undercover and lowering their guard around him, Shintaro's accurate shots allows him to kill someone with ease along with one of his other ability, Atsushi's huge body intimidates people off along with his skills of defending, Daiki's speed and strength allows him to assassinate someone quickly and Tetsuya's skills of being unnoticed and his misdirection helped to throw off all suspicion people had on us."

"That still doesn't explain why you kill some of the people who aren't related to the government." Kagami argued. "We became that well known that people were offering high money to hire us. Of course we don't accept every job they offered us and the ones we accept are either the people who we don't see eye to eye to or dislike and they would be a threat to us in the future. The money pays a lot and why would we turn it down? It helps to offer practice and kill time too. It gets boring you see when there's no challenge." Kagami scowled at the twisted reason they decided to kill people.

It was like Akashi was trying to let him process that information as he paused for a few seconds before he answered the other question Kagami had asked earlier. "Why did Tetsuya join the Police force? It was on a whim you see. Tetsuya had always been fond of mysteries and he was denied the chance of attempting to solve a real actual mystery when he's the antagonist and the one preventing the mysteries from being solved. We were wary of you since you almost caught up one time when you picked up on our trail during Miyaji Kiyoshi's case. You were unconvinced about the person we pushed the blame to and nearly trailed it back to the person we killed him for. We knew we had to be careful of you and Tetsuya wanted to give being a detective a shot so I sent him towards your branch when we decided to frame Aida Riko for the crime."

"But why did Kuroko seem unsure who the murderer was? My instincts told me that he was serious when he was investigating the crime and that was why I didn't think much of him." His instincts told he Kuroko was dangerous but he brushed it aside besides the obvious fact that he looked too mild and the fact that he was really serious when it came to looking for clues. Kagami remembered seeing Kuroko look through each place thoroughly and Kuroko seemed just as unsure as who the murderer was.

Kise applauded and Kagami directed a glare towards him. Was Kise mocking him now? "You're right to think that. I didn't know you were smart enough to pick that up. Kuroko-cchi wasn't told which one of us was the murderer; all Kuroko-cchi knew was that one of us was going to kill her and that was the game. Kuroko-cchi was supposed to pick up the clues we deliberately left behind and hide it while planting clues to make it seem like Aida Riko did it and at the same time figure out which one of us did it. It's more interesting to have a challenge isn't it?"

All this was some sick twisted game for them? But that did explain why Kuroko seemed serious in finding clues and was usually the first one at the crime scene. The 'clues' they had gathered were pointed out by Kuroko too. "What if Kuroko failed to notice the clues Aomine left behind and one of us got our hands on the clue first? And what if we caught him trying to hide or plant fake clues?" They must be taking a big risk on this game when they could not be sure if Kuroko would figure it out that easily.

"Kagami-kun is underestimating me way too much. It's easy for me to look around and hide the clues left behind for me while planting the false clues. You're the only one who notices me and you don't exactly feel my presence all the time too. I misdirected all your attention towards the fake clue when I'm unable to spot the clue left behind for me on the spot and it's easy to look around when everyone else's attention is elsewhere." Kuroko said it all in a matter-of-fact tone that irritated Kagami to no end.

Kuroko sounded like there was no way he would fail in it and as much as Kagami liked to deny it, they were played and totally wrapped around Kuroko's finger. "I knew it was fishy how Aida's necklace was found in the kitchen. There was no way someone wouldn't notice that they dropped such a thing." Aida Riko did not tell them what that necklace was but it definitely had her fingerprints and skin sample on it. No matter how much they asked her about the necklace, she never did tell them where it came from.

"That necklace? It was a gift from Momoi-san. Of course she wouldn't spill where she got it from." Kagami looked back towards Kuroko at those words. "How did you know?" If Aida Riko refused to tell anyone about the origin of the necklace, how on earth did Kuroko know where it came from? "That's because Satsuki bought it and showed it to Tetsu and I. At that time we didn't know who it was for but it was apparent that it was something she designed when it's peach shaped and the same colour as her name."

Her name? Kagami thought back to how her name was written and just like the members of the Kiseki No Sedai, the first kanji of her name was a colour too. "Does that mean she was part of the Kiseki No Sedai too?" If every other member had coincidentally had a surname that represents a colour and she happened to know them, did that mean that she was part of them? Kagami still found it strange that their surnames all represented colours.

Murasakibara nodded his head. "You can say that Sat-chin was a member. She's our manager and informant if you want to be exact. The one who arranges the meeting between us and all the other people who're interested to hire us was Sat-chin, although Kuro-chin manages that sometimes too. Sat-chin and Kise-chin were the best person to get exact information, although Sat-chin is better at processing them. It's just a coincidence that our name meant colours by the way." Kagami watched as Akashi nodded his head in approval at Murasakibara's words.

Wait, this did not make sense. If she was their manager, why did they kill her off and where does Aida Riko fit in all this? If they said that she bought a necklace for Aida that was weird when she was Akashi's rival in wanting to run for mayor. Why would she be close to her and get the mayor a present? And why did Aida kept it a secret that the necklace came from her?

"Kagami-kun, you seemed confused. You want to know what's Momoi-san's relationship with Aida-san and why did we kill her if she was our manager right?" Kagami gave a brief nod and waited to see if they would explain why they did to him. The pieces missing in his mind was slowly coming together by their explanations and he just needed a little more to learn the truth.

Aomine who was still holding onto Kuroko suddenly scowled and released his grip from Kuroko. His hands were stuffed into his pockets and his face reflected nothing but anger. "Why did we kill Satsuki? She betrayed us. Betrayed people who she knew for years for this woman who she knew was Akashi's rival and the one that was preventing him from being the mayor. At first I didn't think much of it when she shown signs that she disliked how we were killing off the people in our way and pushing the evidence to someone else. Satsuki didn't seem to mind when we used numbers to reveal our identities to the police but when we started using Kuroko's misdirection and hiding that we were the one who did the murders, she was getting displeased and saying how we had changed and being people who she don't recognise anymore. Shit like we aren't killing people for revenge or protecting Akashi anymore but just for the thrill of it."

He paused and the others were all having grim expressions on their face. "Why don't I continue this for you since you're getting way too agitated?" Midorima asked in a calm voice as he adjusted his glasses. Seeing the approval from Akashi had Aomine frowning as he signalled for Midorima to do it. Kagami could see how they took Akashi's words and followed it even if they were unhappy with it.

"At the beginning, we only started killing for Akashi's sake and to protect him. But later, we strayed off and accepted requests to kill other people's rivals for them to hone our skills better and see how far we could go with it. That's how we slowly developed our style and know of how good we are at it. We try not to do that much though and even then, we watched who we killed too. The money was good and we had a policy to not kill any innocent people so it was all well. Momoi seemed to think of us as cold hearted beings when we stopped feeling anything from killing people and acted naturally like it was nothing. I guess that was true. When you get used to killing people, the initial feelings we felt of taking someone's life grew dull and soon we don't even feel a thing anymore." He strayed off once he saw Kuroko's signal for him to stop.

Kuroko's expression was a little sad looking compared to his usual blank face and Kagami knew that Kuroko would rather not have his old friend dead. "I'm not sure how or when but Momoi-san met Aida-san somewhere and soon became friends with her. I don't think she was aware that Aida-san was Akashi-kun's rival back then and thought of her as an ordinary person. By the time Momoi-san realised that Aida-san was the mayor, they were already really close friends and Momoi-san wouldn't allow us to kill or harm her. We all noticed the shock she had when Akashi-kun shown us the photo of Aida-san and that she was our next target. After much probing from Aomine-kun and I, she told us that she was close friends with Aida-san. Aomine-kun and I had a suspicion of that when we saw Aida-san wearing the necklace Momoi-san showed us before in the photo. She begged us not to do anything to Aida-san and when we refused she—"

"SHE FREAKINGLY THREATENED US." Aomine interrupted furiously. "Satsuki threatened Tetsu and I that she would tell the police of our involvement with Akashi and that we're members of the Kiseki No Sedai. For the sake of this dumb woman she met recently, she actually threatened us and said that we should stop killing people and being involved in the underground. She knows that we can't stop being involved, if we stopped people would start chasing after Akashi's head again and we won't be able to scare them off. Those assassins lacked the guts to take Akashi's head because of the rumours that he was linked to the Kiseki No Sedai. How were we supposed to protect Akashi without that? Protect him with our other side? Would people take a basketball player seriously? We went too far to stop now and we're not murderers like she says. There's a cause and reason behind our actions, she of all people should know that."

"Aomine-kun, calm down." Kuroko hooked his arm with Aomine's and Aomine seemed to relax slightly from that action. "Why don't you leave it to Kise-kun? I think we should give Kise-kun a chance to speak too. The both of us won't be able to finish speaking without being affected so we might as well lie off and let the others speak." Aomine seemed displeased but made no argument about that.

Kagami honestly did not care who would continue the story and he was getting annoyed how they kept stopping midway and changing people to continue on with it. Kise finally opened his mouth and Kagami huffed to show his displeasure at having to wait. "Huh? Kuroko-cchi wants me to speak? I'm so glad~!" Kise said in glee and Kagami who had enough finally let his anger control him. "Can you just get on with it?"

"No need to yell. I was going to continue where Aomine-cchi left off. Like Aomine-cchi said, we're in a way assassins but it's not like we randomly murder someone for no apparent reason. Maybe we got used to it and it was inhuman of us to not feel a thing anymore from the killings but it was all for a reason. With the reputation Kiseki No Sedai had, Akashi-cchi could be easily protected by us and we could get rid of the people who wanted to kill him. I'm sure you know how corrupted most of the politicians from the government are. Whenever Akashi-cchi asks them to stop doing whatever they're doing, they refuse and instead send someone to kill him. We only retaliated and killed them; it's an eye for an eye. Momo-cchi should know that we would rather not do it if we had a choice but we don't. Part of the reason we accepted requests were like Midorima-cchi said earlier about us honing our skills and growing our reputation. The other reason was to fund Akashi-cchi to help with his job. The other politicians always use dirty tricks to make sure that the opponent they feared the most have the least sponsors. To deal with dirty tricks, we have to get dirty ourselves. Nothing good would come from staying good and we're not that stupid to think the police would be able to help us much. That's why we can't forgive Momoi-cchi for betraying us and taking someone else's side."

Kise finally stopped and Kagami was still a little puzzled. "So you guys killed her because she didn't want you all to harm Aida in any way?" Kagami felt like they still left out some other important parts. Murasakibara's eyes narrowed and the childlike male he has been seeing was suddenly gone and replaced with a rather scary looking giant. Now he understood what Akashi said about him intimidating away people he did not what to deal with.

"No. Sat-chin was planning to tell Aida about Aka-chin's involvement with the Kiseki No Sedai and who the members of the group are. She was going to spill all Aka-chin's secrets and plans away while pretending that she was still on our side. The Sat-chin we knew wasn't there anymore after she got brainwashed by that Aida Riko. She knew who Sat-chin was at the beginning, Ki-chin's information proved that and Sat-chin refused to believe us that Aida was just using her and in turn accuse us of lying and using that to make her agree to our plans of making Aida fall from her position. Sat-chin wouldn't shut up about how Aida was innocent and since when we started targeting innocent people just because the person disliked Aka-chin's plans and goes against it." The aura around Murasakibara was rather intimidating.

Seeing how furious he was, Murasakibara must be someone who really admires Akashi that he seemed to not care that the person he was talking about was a friend of his. Kagami glanced towards Akashi next. "Since you guys seemed to have a habit of passing the beacon and take turns speaking, are you going to be the one to continue it? Why was Aida your target anyway?" From what they said, even if they were hired to kill someone and plant the blame on someone else, it would be someone who deserved it and Kagami did not find that Aida deserved anything like that.

Akashi looked at him with a glare. "Are you ordering me to speak up now?" Kagami blinked as Akashi was suddenly standing in front of him and he barely dodged the sharp object Akashi was holding in his hand as he charged at him. His right cheek stung with the cut and he brought his finger up to wipe the blood off his face. Kagami was quick to conclude that Akashi definitely had issues here and what he said about killing people ordering him around must be true.

"You bastard! What if I didn't dodge that?" Kagami growled and Akashi simply looked at him boredly. "Good job dodging that. If you didn't, I guess you would just die earlier than planned. I'm going to forgive you this once since you dodged that but the next time, you won't be so lucky. That's what you get for ordering me around." The leader of the Kiseki No Sedai really was dangerous and he understood why they obeyed his orders now.

Akashi gave off an air that told people that they would suffer if they chose not to listen to him. With movements that quick, it was no wonder he managed to survive those attempts on his life before the Kiseki No Sedai was started. "Whatever. I don't care who continues it, just answer my question." Kagami was smart enough to watch his tone this time. Another attempt at his life where he was not sure whether or not he would be able to survive was something he did not want to try again.

"There's no reason for Akashi to speak up. I will answer your new question. Kagami Taiga, you really ask too many questions." Midorima glanced at Kagami, obviously irritated that the questions had not stopped yet. "Aida Riko wasn't as innocent as Momoi thought she was. She got near her on purpose, knowing that she was Akashi's secretary and hoping to learn if there was something she could use against Akashi. There were unproved rumours about Akashi being the founder of the Kiseki No Sedai and she was trying to find out if that was true or if Akashi was related to the underground in any way. She might not have directly done anything but her father did. He tried to hire us to kill Akashi, with the accusations that Akashi was involved with the Kiseki No Sedai if we turned him down. It was stupid to think that way when we often turn down requests, even if the person was someone who wasn't on our side and Akashi could gain from bringing the person down. We don't dedicate all our time with the group, just part of it. It's a big giveaway if we obviously just accept requests that benefited Akashi so we turn down some of them too and in turn stop some attempts on said person life to throw off the suspicion. "

"Not only did her father tried to get us to assassinate Aka-chin, he even spread rumours about Aka-chin to the other politicians and making Aka-chin lose favour with them. You should know about it, it was in the news." Murasakibara interrupted and Kagami nodded his head to show that he knew what he was talking about. "The thing about him pocketing money to run for mayor and gaining money from being the boss of a brothel right?"

Murasakibara snarled and Kagami regretted opening his mouth blindly. His bad habit of speaking without thinking was happening again. "Yes, that. It took a while before the investigations showed that Aka-chin hasn't pocketed any funds and neither was he the boss of a brothel. They couldn't trace him about the Kiseki No Sedai since we have always been careful and we have ways of informing each other of things without meeting up together or calling each other. We were also lucky that we were on the low profile at that moment with Aka-chin busy with the upcoming election, Kise-chin with his recent advertisements, Mido-chin with his launching of his new product, Mine-chin with his basketball match and Kuro-chin with his plans on buying a bookstore. Nothing could be found and yet not all the people who supported Aka-chin came back and some of them started siding with Aida too. They weren't able to find out that her father was the one who spread the rumour about Aka-chin too."

He understood partly of where they were coming from but why were they blaming it on Aida instead of her father? "Isn't that Aida's father's fault and not hers?" Kagami stopped himself from saying that she was innocent when she was not completely innocent if she really did befriend Momoi on purpose.

"Aida-san was aware of her father's plans but she didn't stop him. Akashi-kun suggested an idea of building a new recreation facility and despite the other politicians thinking that it was a good idea, Aida-san rejected it with the excuse that they weren't enough funds. She just didn't want to approve it because Akashi-kun would beat her in votes for the next election if the public knew it was his plan to build it. She knew the only reason why she won was because Akashi-kun wasn't running for mayor last year since he was sick and she has always been seeing Akashi-kun as her rival ever since they both started the job in the government. Akashi-kun told her that she would be sorry that she rejected his idea and he would make her pay by building that when he becomes the mayor and he would make sure that she loses whatever power she has in governing the place. She always felt that Akashi-kun was hiding something sinister so she was always wary of him and when she learnt that the Kiseki No Sedai wasn't willing to kill him, she started being more suspicious and thus started befriending Momoi-san." Kuroko was the one who spoke up this time and Kagami could see that he had relaxed.

A point that he failed to understand right from the beginning. "How was she able to know of Momoi's identity while Momoi didn't know she was the mayor?" Was it even possible for someone to not know who the mayor was, especially someone who worked in the government? "Ah. About that. Momoi-san doesn't pay much attention to things she didn't care about, especially since most of the people there flirt with her whenever she's alone." So she failed to recognise who the mayor was because she did not care who the current mayor was? This Momoi Satsuki sounded like a complicated person.

"Anymore questions before I continue?" Kuroko asked and Kagami shook his head to signal Kuroko to continue speaking. "I believe she was against the killing idea right from the beginning but since she held no control over her father, she wasn't able to do anything about it. But when she learnt that the attempt failed, she must have felt that something was amiss and decided to look for clues about Akashi-kun through Momoi-san. Momoi-san brought her over to her place before and a few days after that, Momoi-san's place was ransacked. She didn't call the police since nothing important was missing and she thought that the person must have broke into the wrong house. It was obviously her doing since Momoi-san told me her friend was the one who suggested her not to trouble the police when she didn't lose anything. What was the last straw for us to kill Momoi-san and frame her for it was when Aida-san went overboard." His tone was growing colder by the moment.

Aomine placed a finger on Kuroko's lips to silence him. "Tetsu, let me continue this." They both locked gaze for a few seconds and Kagami's instincts were telling him that they were conversing with just looks before they broke gaze and Aomine spoke up. "She spreaded lies about Akashi to Satsuki. Of all the lies she could have said, she told Satsuki that Akashi was planning to kill her and faked the news that her father was the one who was planning to kill Akashi to the public. The pot was calling the kettle black when Akashi never even said anything about her wanting to kill him. Satsuki confronted us about it since the one who managed the meeting between us and Aida's father was Tetsu and not her so she wasn't aware of that. Despite us retorting that the one who did that wasn't us, Satsuki didn't believe us since Aida already told her beforehand that we would say that. It was the first time that Satsuki actually called us monsters , saying that she regretted ever knowing us and threatened to tell the police about us if something happens to Aida. It was then we knew Satsuki was no longer on our side and it was dangerous to keep her alive when she might spill about us to Aida any time. Like that wasn't enough, Aida even announced to Akashi privately that she would kick him out of the government if she won the upcoming election."

"We can't possibly keep her around after she dared to say such a thing to Aka-chin." The furious giant was back again and Kagami bit his lips lightly to make sure he would not say anything that would make him angrier. He refused to let it known that he was intimidated. "She had the nerve to say that with a smug look on her face, I was there when she whispered to Aka-chin that she would no doubt win the upcoming election and she was getting closer to gaining knowledge of what Aka-chin's dark secrets were. After discussing, we decided to kill two birds with one stone by murdering Sat-chin and framing it on Aida. That way we could protect our secret and at the same time, get rid of the thorn in our eyes."

"How—" Kagami opened his mouth to ask another question only to have Kuroko interrupt him. "You want to know how we managed to kill Momoi-san right? Judging from things, Aomine-kun was there in her apartment before Aida-san arrived and poisoned her drink without Momoi-san noticing it." Aomine smirked and ruffled Kuroko's hair. "As expected of Tetsu. How did you know I was there and I was the one who poisoned her?"

Kuroko smiled and Kagami was shocked to see that Kuroko did not smack him or anything for touching his head. When the other Police members patted or even touched his head, Kuroko would have glared and asked them not to touch him. Aomine must be a special case to him if he lets him ruffle his hand and swing his arm around him and stuff. He refused to let the feelings of betrayal come up now, not when he had not learnt about the whole thing yet.

"Judging that there was another mug being placed near the sink, I knew Momoi-san had a guest. She would usually leave her mugs in the cabinet and the only time she would leave them there was to dry it off. It couldn't be Murasakibara-kun and Akashi-kun as they don't visit Momoi-san so the only possible people left were Kise-kun, Midorima-kun and Aomine-kun. Judging from the footprint on the balcony railings, it couldn't be Midorima-kun since there's no way he would be willing to escape in such a way and he wouldn't sleep in one of Momoi-san's guest room too. That leaves Aomine-kun and Kise-kun. Either of them could have told Momoi-san that they were tired and like to sleep in for a while. Knowing Momoi-san's understanding of them, she wouldn't worry about them stirring up during her meeting with Aida-san since the both of them were sound sleepers. They could also pretend that they decided to follow her request and leave Aida-san alone so Momoi-san wouldn't suspect a thing. The drink in the cup wasn't instant and Momoi-san's skills in cooking or making drinks for that matter was terrible so one of them must have made it for her and she just preheated it before Aida-san came. It's easy to just sprinkle the poison into the mug she would use and she wouldn't suspect that any of us would ever kill her." The tone for the last part was different and Kagami wondered why he agreed to it if he did not really want to kill her.

Wait, what foot print? Kagami did not remember seeing any footprint or anything near the balcony area. "Huh? What did you mean by a footprint?" The guest room being slept in was something new to him too. He was only informed that it was unmade. "I almost forgot that Kagami-kun didn't see it. The first place I checked after directing everyone's attention towards the necklace was there. Since no one noticed me, I could wipe off the footprint easily and the living room was the same as what I always see so I knew there was nothing there for me to see. After checking the room I knew Momoi-san let her guests used, I could see signs of the bed being used. Momoi-san wasn't a person who would not tidy a bed so along with the footprint, the person who slept there escaped the place without Momoi-san's knowledge and pretended to still be asleep. She wouldn't disturb the room either so she wouldn't know if the person was still inside or not. Thus, the murderer must have left while Momoi-san was preparing to meet Aida-san. Since Aida-san was the only person around when Momoi-san died, the police would suspect her more than anyone else. I had a suspicion that the murderer was Aomine-kun since he was the one who called the police but it could be set up that Aomine-kun came to throw me off track so Kise-kun was still in my list of possible culprit."

That made sense and Kagami could know understand why he felt it was strange when he saw that slightly creased guest bed. Kiyoshi told him not to take much notice to the bed and that Momoi could be too busy to tidy up her guest room. It was apparently normal to him to leave a guest room untidied till a guest plan to stay there to him and Kagami did not question that theory despite the nagging feeling he was having. To think that it was a clue and he did not catch that. "How did it narrow down to just Aomine then?" Kagami questioned. Since the clues were hidden by Kuroko and most of it was inside information Kuroko had since he knew Momoi while he had no clue what her personality was.

Kuroko smiled again and Kagami was slightly taken back by how pure it looked like. Why was a male who could smile so innocently actually a member of the Kiseki No Sedai and actually have no qualms about killing a person? He wished this was some mistake and Kuroko really was the Kuroko he knew from work. This one might show more emotions but he was a complete stranger and a little disturbing with how he could take part in a game in solving a crime about who killed his friend while framing someone else for it.

"I tested Kise-kun out by asking where he was, he was lying when he said he was at home by the way. Because Kise-kun lives in a rather private place and he doesn't have any cameras installed, the police wouldn't know if he was lying. The day when Momoi-san died was the day where his pre-order for this facial cream arrived every month and he would no doubt go collect it. Kise-kun was in a photo shoot during the day so he could only collect it during near the evening. When we checked his house, I saw the rather full facial cream on the coffee table so it had to be his new supply. That crossed Kise-kun out of the list. Aida-san visited Momoi-san around five and Kise-kun finished his work slightly after four so he couldn't have been the one who went to Momoi-san's house. There wasn't enough time for him to plan it all out and get his cream at the same time when the shop closes at five." So it was once again something that only Kise's acquaintance would know.

This was starting to be a rather unfair case when most of the clues and hints were something only an insider like Kuroko would know. No wonder they had no worries about Kuroko being unable to pick up the clues, the police force would not even get most of them. Especially not something like him picking up his facial cream. "Why did he lie about being home? And how would you know if he didn't get them on some other day."

Kise's eyes widened at the question and he was flailing around as he spoke. "That was to throw Kuroko-cchi off, nothing more." Kagami was suspicious from the way he was acting. If that really was the case, would he be flailing around like that? "I believe it's because Kise-kun didn't want people to know about his pre-orders for this specially made facial cream. If news spread that Kise-kun used such a product, people would all start to order it and it would lower Kise-kun's chances of getting to order it. Apparently, it's some rare facial cream from France and the company only accepts a certain number of pre-orders from Japan. Besides, the place where Kise-kun orders the facial cream from wouldn't give away that he was there since it's his aunt's shop so the police couldn't trace him. Believe it or not, when Kise-kun puts his heart into it, he's able to copy someone else's dressing style and voice so he could sneak away easily. The other part of the reason should be like he said to throw me off. And another thing. Despite the owner being Kise-kun's aunt, she would still follow the terms stated when he pre-ordered the cream, it had to be collected on the day they selected or it would be sold to someone."

"Kuroko-cchi! How did you know about that? I don't think I ever told anyone about that! Have you been sneaking up on me?" Kise pouted and whined like a child. Kuroko seemed used to it and showed no change in his facial expression. "I saw the receipt for it once when I came over to your place with Aomine-kun. I was curious when I saw the price and the receipt stated pre-order, it must be some rare thing if you had to pre-order it and you mentioned that you have to use this specific facial cream everyday too. I researched the cream when I had nothing to do one day."

"That definitely sounds like a stupid thing that Kise would do." Kise pouted again when he heard Midorima's remarks and he was soon charging towards said male who failed to push him away. "That's so mean, Midorima-cchi! I thought we were best friends! So your invites to meals really was just a plot to learn more about what kind of luck items the girls these days are interested in." Aomine coughed to catch Kise's attention. "The two of you can continue your lover's spat later."

Midorima's eyes turned to slits and a death glare was quickly sent towards Aomine's way. "I'm in no way lovers with a guy like him. Do you see me acting anyway like Kuroko and you?" Aomine shrugged. "No? But you're a tsundere so how would I know if that's what you're really thinking. Don't deny it. We all know how you don't always say what you're thinking."

Finally having enough of all these pointless conversation, Kagami interrupted them when he saw that Midorima was about to retort with something. "Can we just go back to what Kuroko was explaining about?" The pair kept their mouth shut but their eyes showed that they were going to settle that argument later.

"Thank you for shutting them, Kagami-kun. Murasakibara-kun is always with Akashi-kun and there's no way the two of them would go meet Momoi-san so openly. Besides the bed could only fit one person and the couch showed no signs of anyone else sitting so they're definitely not the culprit. We have proof of them being in a public talk during five too. When we investigated Midorima-kun, he said he was busy in the day which was true since he met Kise-kun for lunch near one and his employees proved that he was in the office till then. Midorima-kun doesn't contact Momoi-san as well and it wouldn't be possible for him to be culprit when he had an interview with a magazine around four. There was too little time for him to plan it."Kuroko gave a brief bow to show his gratitude and once again Kagami had to question why Kuroko was part of such a group.

He seemed polite and completely opposite of the rest. Kuroko lacked the dangerous aura that the rest of them of them had too. Kagami failed to see what Kuroko had in common with them besides his name. "Next comes Aomine-kun. His morning would no doubt be spent on sleeping and that's why I made sure to get you to ask his neighbours to prove that. They would account that they didn't see him leave the house till one. I know Aomine-kun have the habit to not leave the house till the afternoon if he didn't have a match and his afternoons was accounted for till three. Aomine-kun said he was practicing basketball but the witnesses said they saw him around two. No one was sure how long he was there since it was a pretty deserted court and people don't usually keep track of time when they walk past. It made it possible for him to go to Momoi-san's place for a visit and get some sleep in her guestroom. The drink happened to be one of Aomine-kun's specialties too. Despite Momoi-san staying on the second floor, Aomine-kun's athletic skills would allow him to land properly without injuries and Momoi-san's neighbours rarely pay attention to who pass by and Aomine-kun would greet them if he comes by. We tested it before and they didn't realise Aomine-kun came by once since he didn't greet them and they thought it was someone else."

"How did they know that Aida Riko came by at five then?" Kuroko's expression was an amused one as Kagami spoke out his question. "Kagami-kun really does have endless questions till he gets all the details. Because of how secretive she walked. Despite what I said, they usually turn to see who walks back and if the person dress in a normal way and walk in a normal speed, they wouldn't care. Won't you pay attention to someone who's dressed like she was in a disguise and walked quickly? When it's both, you know that the person's hiding something."

Kagami stopped himself from arguing with Kuroko when he heard that remark about him. This was not the time and he was wasting even more time if he started arguing with him. "Back about Aomine-kun. I knew that it was their habit to only notice Aomine-kun when he greets them so despite them saying that they only spotted him after five, I wasn't certain if that really was the truth. So after we had finished investigating the rest, the only one whose time schedule wasn't completely proven was Aomine-kun's. He said he was walking around the street after he finished practicing and it was true that the convenience stall near Momoi-san's place said he stopped by at five but he could have went there after he jumped off the balcony and walked there to get the drinks for his alibi. He was certainly near enough and Aomine-kun knew the area well enough to get there without being seen. Thus, I was able to conclude that Aomine-kun was the murderer. He was the only person who could fit in the part for pretending to stay in Momoi-san's room and it wouldn't be strange to find Aomine-kun's hair there when he stays over sometimes. The perfect person who wouldn't bring suspicion and leave the least clues behind."

He never knew inside information really made such a big deal. Kagami failed to ask how they noticed Aida and Aomine pass by during the investigation and he regretted it now. If he had asked that, he would have realised that Aomine's alibi had a flaw in it. Failing to take notice about the unmade bed was something he should have known and checked. Now that Kagami knew the truth, he really regretted not listening to his instincts were they told him those clues they picked up were suspicious.

"We didn't expect Kagami-kun to realise that something was amiss though." Kuroko answered truthfully and Kagami laughed bitterly at how much they thought about him. Looks like they were only wary about his instincts and nothing else. His brains was apparently something they did not think much of and he would have to agree since his instincts were what solved cases for him usually.

"I guess this explains why Imayoshi seemed to have recognised you when you first spoke up and actually opened his safe right after that. He must have met you through Aomine and that was how you knew him to be a cunning and smart guy. No wonder he said something about shadows before he was taken in, he was talking about you. I didn't get what he meant back then, but he was directing it to you and your ways of misdirection." Kuroko did not answer him and neither did Kagami need it.

Back then when Kiyoshi was telling him about Aomine, he thought he was imagining things since Kuroko was smiling slightly when Kiyoshi mentioned that Aomine is one of the strongest basketball players around. Kuroko must had been pleased to hear that the person he valued was being thought of so highly. It all made sense to him know why Aomine wanted Kuroko to be the one to question him too.

There was one last thing he wanted to ask. Kagami looked away from Kuroko and asked his last and final question that he wanted the answer to. "You didn't mean a word you said to me right? You were just trying to win my trust when you said that you trusted me and that you were happy to be my partner and support me. You would be the brains behind me while I let my instincts tell me what to do and to make me the number one detective in Japan."

Aomine snickered and Kagami knew how pathetic he sounded. He must be like some person who was betrayed by a love one and maybe he really did fall for Kuroko during their short interaction. That explained how betrayed and angry he felt when Kuroko turned out to be someone who was working as a mole and the bitter feeling when he saw how close Kuroko was with Aomine.

"Tetsu has always been my partner and mine alone. He was just using you to make sure you won't find out who the real murderer is. That had been the plan right from the beginning. Tetsu knew he had to earn your trust before he would be able to throw you off track, that was why we had him enter the police force before put framing Aida in action." Kuroko's face was unreadable as always and Kagami wanted to hear it from Kuroko's mouth directly.

So that he would stop himself from lying to himself that everything was a lie. Kuroko's encouragement and support was all fake and it was all not true. He was an idiot to believe in them, why someone he just met would be willing to trust his strange methods and say that he would make him the number one detective? But those words of acceptance and someone to believe in him was something he had always wanted and when someone said it to him, he could not stop himself from trusting him. Those words were something he longed for so long and when they were finally heard, all logic disappeared from his head.

"Like I said earlier, I really did think something of Kagami-kun's instincts. But everything else was indeed a lie. I was only supposed to be in the police force till the end of the case so I can't possibly be your partner and make you the number one detective here. I only said it because Kagami-kun looked like he wanted someone to say that they believed in him and that was the best way to earn Kagami-kun's trust too. I'm sorry but Aomine-kun's my only partner. It was fun solving that case with you but no one can replace Aomine-kun to me, he has been my partner for years and that won't change just because it was interesting being a detective with you. I won't give up what I have here to join your side. Because I like seeing Aomine-kun's smile more than anything." Kagami smiled, he knew this would be the answer.

He watched bitterly as Aomine flushed lightly at Kuroko's words. "W-What! Tetsu, that's just too cheesy." Jealousy was bubbling in his chest and he wished he was in Aomine's shoes right now. The feeling of betrayal by someone he thought he could trust and liked was the worse feeling ever. "Cheesy? I'm not sure what Aomine-kun is talking about. I was just speaking from what I thought."

It was worse when Kuroko apologised to him and showed that he had someone he liked already. "Are you really sure you're part of a famous underground group? You're way too polite and you looked too weak to be someone from that or even a basketball player. You lacked the killer aura the rest of them have too." Kagami widened his eyes when Kuroko appeared in front of him all of a sudden and a cold chill went down his spine when he saw his expression.

"Like what my name represents, I'm a shadow, Kagami-kun. When I was playing basketball, Akashi-kun noticed my natural ability of being unnoticed and had me honed it till I could use my lack of presence freely along with the skill of using misdirection. I could steal the ball from people and I specialise in the invisible passes and being the phantom player. The same applies here. We all use the skills we have in basketball towards here as well. I could use misdirection to throw people off track and my lack of presence helped to clean up whatever clues we might leave behind. Because of that, it's easy for me to be the one making the arrangements for meetings too since I won't leave much of an impression on them. Momoi-san was the one who made the arrangements when I wasn't free and she was our number one informant too. Midorima-kun was the number one shooter in our team with his precise shots and that's why he's our number one hitman now. Kise-kun's skills in copying help him with disguises and along with his charms allows him to go undercover and gain information easily and that's what made him our number one spy. Murasakibara-kun's skills of defence and tall build makes him the best body guard and the best person to go after spies. Akashi-kun's natural leadership with how everything he says always turn out true makes him the best leader we have. Aomine-kun was the ace of our basketball team with his insane speed and formless shots and he still is our ace even now. The way he could kill someone quickly without any excess movements makes him the best person we have. Aomine-kun is my light and I'm the shadow that supports him. Without a strong light, the shadow would be weak and useless. I'm in no way weak, Kagami-kun and I don't need a killer aura when I'm not the one doing the killing."

The cold stare sent more chills down his spine and he understood now that Kuroko was no pushover. He was in a way twisted like them with his thinking and he hardened his heart to say his next choice of words. "As a person working in the police force, I'm going to have to arrest you Kuroko, along with your gang. I believe the presses for you are going to be higher when you're working in the police force_." 'Good bye, the only person who understood what I needed and thank you for telling me those words that I wanted to hear so much, even if it was all just a lie.'_ He whispered to himself in his mind.

Kuroko smiled coldly at him and shook his head. "I'm not part of the police force anymore. I sent my resignation letter to Hyuuga-san yesterday. He didn't tell you because I told him not to inform you. You didn't think you could get away after hearing our secrets now do you? The only reason why I even told you all these and why the others followed my request was my compliment for going so far to even figure out something's amiss and the least I could do was to let you die in peace with no regrets. If we just killed you, you would be regretful about not knowing the truth murderer and why I betrayed you. Although it isn't really betrayal when I was never on your side. At least you can die knowing everything, we acknowledged you enough to go as far as to answer your every question."

So that was why they were willing to tell him everything and answer every one of his questions. He thought it was strange how they were so willing to tell him everything and now he knew the reason. They were planning to kill him and out of pity, they decided to let him know everything he wanted to know. To let him die in peace with no regrets? He laughed hysterically and ignored the strange looks the rest were sending him.

"I was wrong. The fact that you could smile while telling me all that proved that you really are like that. No wonder you could calmly find out who's the one who killed your friend like it was nothing. You're much colder than I thought. So you expect me to thank you for letting me know of my failure of solving the murder case and trusting the wrong person?" Kuroko's face was still blank and Kagami smiled at how his words failed to cause any impact on him.

He raised his hand up and traced Kuroko's cheeks lightly before Aomine shoved him away and growled. "What do you think you're doing? Our only leeway to you was just the truth about the case and us, nothing more. Touch Tetsu again and I will personally end your miserable life." Aomine would personally end his life? Was that not the case right now? What was that suppose to mean? So before death he was still confuse huh?

Kuroko spared him a glance before tugging Aomine's hand with his own and tiptoed to plant a kiss on his cheeks. "Aomine-kun, relax. It's nothing to make a fuss about and you know we won't be able to clear the mess if you killed him." Aomine huffed and did not say another word. Kuroko smiled a real smile at him and the bow he saw after that was mocking him.

"Thank you and good bye, Kagami-kun. Thanks to you, my whim of wanting to give a go at being a detective was fulfilled. It was fun going on investigations with you. I'm honoured that I was able to see your instincts at work and the last person to work with you." Kuroko turned away from him and Aomine grinned at him triumphantly.

"This end is too good for you but I guess you deserved it since you gave Tetsu a good time. I still wish to kill you personally for touching Tetsu and thinking that he would be your partner forever. Don't think I haven't notice what you feel towards him too. Tetsu has always been mine and never once yours. Take that information down the grave with you. Midorima, do your thing." Aomine turned away too and Kagami stared at the familiar small back while he still could. He could not escape with the six of them here and calling for help would not work. He never should have agreed to come here, a place with no people.

Call this a pathetic excuse but he refused to die without a fight. "Wouldn't they suspect any of you, especially Kuroko when you kill me?" Kise was the one who laughed and answered him this time. "We're not that stupid. We walked here and there are ways to get here without being noticed. You came here with Kuroko-cchi didn't you? No one would suspect him because they wouldn't notice him and if the police asked for witnesses, they would say that they saw you walking alone. The paths here are all without cameras so no one would know there were people with you. We leave no clues behind to show that we were ever here and they would dub this as suicide."

"Suicide? Why would I kill myself? You can't make me too." Midorima smirked and approached him. "I can't be too sure about that. None of us are going to kill you, the one who would kill you is yourself. Stupid. You were already under my hypnosis since the first time you stepped into my office. Didn't you find it strange how time went by so fast for you? You keep a knife with you at all times for safety reasons right? That's exactly how you would die. "

Kagami blinked and watched Midorima strangely. He did remember how time passed way too quickly and being confused about that. "Mido-chin's good at hypnotising simple minded people. You won't even know you were hypnotised and that was your downfall. You went to question Mido-chin alone with just Kuro-chin and that was a stupid thing to do. But not to worry. Mido-chin would make sure you're aware of your actions this time."

Midorima snapped his fingers and instructed him to write out a suicide letter before killing himself with his knife. He watched in horror as his body reacted to what he ordered and he was unable to stop himself. He remembered hearing Kuroko's voice one last time before everything went black. "If we had met on the same side, we might have become friends. It's a pity that we weren't on the same side. Good bye, Kagami-kun." A tone said with finality and ironically, he was glad that Kuroko's voice was the last thing he heard.

"Shall we go now, Tetsu?" Aomine asked and Kuroko nodded his head. "Thank you for going along with my whims this time. Letting me give it a go at being a detective, giving me a mystery to solve and answering what Kagami-kun wanted." Kuroko bowed and thanked them earning amused faces in return.

"Like Kagami said, you're way too polite, Kuroko-cchi. It was fun for us too, trying to think of a way to hide the truth from you while making sure the clues were something that wouldn't give us away. Besides, we're comrades this is nothing. We had to get Kagami off our trail too so this was a winning situation." Kise's tone was a cheerful one and Kuroko chose not to question why it sounded more cheery than his usual one. They all knew the reason too.

Akashi started walking and Murasakibara followed behind. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Tetsuya. It's a pity that the first mystery we gave you was the demise of our comrade. It must have been hard for you." Kuroko hesitated before speaking up, he wanted to make sure that his tone was his usual one. "It's the same for everyone else. Momoi-san's betrayal was unexpected and none of us thought we would ever kill our own comrade. I'm not anything special and I knew right from the start Kagami-kun had to die. Because of my softness, I allowed him to die knowing everything and none of you judged me for it."

Aomine chuckled and flicked Kuroko's forehead. "None of us are coldhearted murderers. Like someone could stop feeling anything from killing a person. We just hardened our hearts for our cause and not show the side of us that rather not do it. The biggest blow was that Satsuki failed to notice that and accused us of being coldhearted murderers. It was extremely hard to steel our hearts to kill people who didn't harm Akashi but we needed it to build our reputation and make sure we're able to do it without hesitation. A second's delay can cause our lives and Akashi to die. We have to make sure that Akashi's plan succeeds and things change, no matter what the sacrifice..."

Every single one of them looked away. "Because we're weak and unable to toss away our humanity that we're like this. So Kuroko-cchi, don't say you're too soft. We're all the same and we understood why you wanted to let Kagami know about the truth, that was why we cooperated with you."

"I should thank you guys for helping me for making my cause come true and dirtying your hands because of me. It was hard for all of you to kill for my sake and I didn't expect you guys to actually agree to it. Especially for Satsuki's case... But if I become the Mayor, it would be the end and none of you have to dirty your hands anymore. It was nice to see how much you guys supported my cause and think of me as a comrade that you all got mad when people wanted my head and kill for my sake." Akashi's tone was a friendlier one that they rarely heard.

Midorima pushed his glasses up and resisted the urge to smile. "That's way too out of character for you. There's no need for that too. We did it out of our own will and your cause was something the five of us supported. It benefits most of the people too. We don't mind getting dirty for you, we know you long enough to understand without saying that we knew you were grateful. You helped us out back then, we would never be able to make it up to you. The us standing here with smiles very often was all thanks to you. More than suffering, all of us enjoyed our time more than anything."

Aomine laughed and swung his arm around Midorima's shoulder. "So the tsundere finally decides to be honest with his feelings for once?" Despite having his arm pushed off, Aomine was still smiling. "Quit calling me that and neither have I ever been dishonest with my feelings." Midorima protested and stepped away from the snickering Aomine.

"We're all out of character today. It's expected since today is the end of it. The part of us that want to mourn for Momoi-san and the sadness of killing our old friend can finally be released. All our hard work and sweat have paid off and there's no need to sacrifice anything anymore. Ironic that the last person whose death helped us turned out to be Momoi-san's." No one said anything for a while after Kuroko finished his sentence. Their suppressed feelings for so long was slowly being freed.

Murasakibara raised a peach favoured candy and smiled fondly at it. "This was Sat-chin's favourite candy too. I really liked Sat-chin, she always gives me candy or snacks when I run out, although she makes sure I eat regular food when we have meals together. We all knew Aka-chin well enough to understand that his cause wasn't for himself but she wouldn't know since Aka-chin never explained it when the rest of us understood it. Maybe if Sat-chin had known the true reason behind the cause, she wouldn't have been tricked by that woman."

Kise smiled sadly and stared into the sky. "I believe all of us liked her, that's why it pained us when she betrayed us and we had to kill her. She was always looking after us, maybe Aomine-cchi more but she would often check on us to see if we have been doing well or not. And maybe. The past can't be changed so we have to look at the future instead. It wouldn't really count as anything but we should live our life to the fullest for Momo-cchi's sake too. I wonder what Momo-cchi thought when she died, did you think she realised that we were the ones who did it?"

"Satsuki wouldn't want us to think about it so much. She has always asked us to not look back and regret what we have done in the past and just look forward. That's how we managed to stand up whenever we were remorseful over what we done. Satsuki might be annoying but she did a good job looking after us. If she was here right now, no doubt she would be yelling at us for feeling regretful over what we had done. Even if we killed her, I have a feeling she wouldn't want us to be tied by it. She always wanted us to look forward." Aomine remarked as he scratched his head. "Even though I always complain, I really was grateful to her….."

The last part was whispered and the only one who caught it was Kuroko. He intertwined their fingers together again and nodded his head. "I think so too. Momoi-san wanted us to be free and not tied down by anything and we won't be if we stopped thinking so much. Just look forward to the future and think nothing else but what to do from now on."

"I think so too, Tetsuya. We better go now before we get caught with Kagami's body." Akashi announced with finality and the three pairs turned towards different directions. "The next time we meet again as a group, you better be the mayor." Aomine commented and the rest knew it would be when the Kiseki No Sedai disbands too. Their existence as the Kiseki No Sedai wouldn't be necessary anymore.

"Of course." Akashi's words brought a smile to the other five and each of them walked away without looking back. They were going to leave their past behind and whatever feelings they had about killing their friend was going to be gone after today. A new starting point for all six of them and a new future without any killings.

Aomine gripped Kuroko's hand lightly as they walked. "Are you feeling alright? You liked that Kagami didn't you? I could tell that you would rather not have him killed if you could help it." Kuroko laughed quietly at the slight jealous tone Aomine was using. He squeezed Aomine's hand reassuringly before smiling at him.

"Are you jealous?" He asked teasingly and Aomine huffed and released his grip on his hand. Kuroko was not surprised when he was suddenly tugged towards Aomine and now having to walk while dragging an Aomine who was resting his head on his head. "I am not. I was just worried about you since you did admit that you liked him as a person and I know how you get when our target is someone you happen to be fond of."

Kuroko leaned back and poked Aomine's ribs. "I'm not that attached to him, Aomine-kun. It's nice to know that you're possessive of me but I only thought of Kagami-kun as someone that would make a good friend and nothing more. I knew he would be a threat to Akashi-kun if we leave him alone and he should be the person besides Momoi-san that really don't deserve to die. We still had to do it for Akashi-kun though. Besides, no one can replace Aomine-kun to me. The first person to acknowledge me was Aomine-kun, and even though we had a fall out for a period of time, I still liked seeing Aomine-kun's smile more than anything." Aomine burst into laughter and ruffled Kuroko's soft strands of hair.

"I didn't know you were cheesy till today. It's hard not to be possessive of you when I nearly lost you once thanks to my own stupidity and besides, I like seeing your smile too. But I get what you mean, he seemed pretty interesting." He lightly pushed Kuroko forward to continue walking. "He remembered me a little of you so it was easy to gain an interest in him."

Kuroko smiled when he heard Aomine's protests that he was in no way alike with Kagami and the walk back was soon filled with their small arguments. "Nee, Aomine-kun. Have you thought about what you're going to do if Akashi-kun becomes the Mayor? We won't have to live two lives anymore and we finally get to think about the future."

"Isn't that obvious, Tetsu? I'm going to continue living with you and play basketball till I can't play no more." An amused twinkle was in Kuroko's eyes and Aomine frowned when he caught it. "As expected of Aomine-kun. Something really simple. But simple isn't bad, especially after the kind of life we had till now. Basketball was how we all met too wasn't it? It's important to the both of us so I wouldn't mind living with nothing but Aomine-kun and basketball."

"Tch. Don't make it sound like you're mocking me then. Satsuki had always liked watching us play basketball too and how the both of us were basketball idiots back then. We had to grow up and accept the harsh reality and to think that the six of us thought that it would be so easy to make Akashi's cause come true. Sure turned out to be wrong when we had to sacrifice so much for it. Still, our sacrifices are what gives the people a better life. You can't gain something without losing something, especially when it's something big. Well, enough of all that. Let's go."

Aomine tugged him forward and Kuroko turned to look back one last time_. "Farewell, Momoi-san, Kagami-kun. Maybe one day we would be able to make up to all of you."_ He whispered in his mind before turning his attention back towards Aomine and continued walking. Even if the people they killed deserved to die, Kuroko knew the others were still feeling bad about taking someone's life. But back then, dirtying their hands was the only way to protect Akashi and if he was given a chance to go back to the past, he still would not regret walking down that path. This was the path all of them decided to walk on and the end result of it would be worth it too. Maybe he did not deserve to lead a happy future but he still wanted to live with Aomine and having the other four as important friends.

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_**[[ A/N: Sorry for killing Kagami off. I had this decided right from the start and due to my bias for AoKuro, I was thinking of how to insert Aomine inside. My brain just came up with this idea and before I knew it, the Kiseki No Sedai came up and I had this twist added in.**_

_**There wasn't a choice but to kill Kagami off. He would have gotten in the way of Akashi's plans and they couldn't risk that. More of his cause would be explained in the Epilogue. ]]**_


	4. Epilogue

_**[[ A/N: So I think this part was added in to explain more about Akashi's cause and conclude how the rest of them are going to do. Can't really remember why I started writing an Epilogue…. ]]**_

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"Congratulations, Akashi-kun." Kuroko greeted once Akashi arrived in the room they reserved for their celebration. "Akashi! You're late as always." Midorima commented in a displeased tone. "Calm down. You know that happens all the time and he's the mayor now, of course he would be late." Aomine argued boredly. The four of them had arrived first and spent the next twenty minutes waiting for the guest of honour and Murasakibara to arrive.

A month had passed since then and Akashi had recently won the election to be the mayor. "Aka-chin was caught in a meeting with the chief of police." Kuroko's attention was caught quickly and he turned away from the drink he was sipping from. "Hyuuga-san? I see he's doing fine." Kuroko stated. "He is. And he agreed to help out with my cause."

"Why wouldn't he? Akashi-cchi's cause is one that benefits all the people." Kise yawned and leaned towards Midorima who instantly moved away. "That's true. Akashi's plan was something all of us agreed on when we were young." It was something that the young Akashi wanted to achieve back then and the other five agreed with it instantly when they learnt what it was.

Kise grinned as he remembered the them by then. "I could still remember it like it was yesterday. Akashi-cchi suddenly telling us that he wants to be the mayor when he grows up. Every single one of us were shocked and he proceeded to explain to us what he wanted to do without minding our shock or paying any attention to us."

"That was how Akashi-kun was like. He knew we would listen regardless so he didn't have to care. It was a surprise when he said he wanted to make the government a corruption-free place and the people wouldn't have to suffer with heavy taxes with the politicians pocket the people's hard earned money. We all supported the idea and Akashi-kun even thought of how to clean them off. First he had to become the mayor and he would work with the police force to enforce the new law for corruption and bribery. That way all the people who work in the government would be people who really care about the people instead of their own pockets." The perfect government and the people would not suffer anymore.

Those thoughts was what made them agree to help Akashi with his cause. Never in their widest imaginations that to achieve it, it would be so hard and they would have to go through so much trouble. "Kind of childish of us huh? We actually thought it would be easy to help Akashi become the Mayor and things would go smoothly." Aomine laughed as he recalled their naïve selves thinking that there would not be any trouble to do it.

"We were sure proved wrong when Akashi started being targeted and we have to protect and help him by killing off his enemies instead of him being the one being killed. The government was way too corrupted than we thought when they actually retort to such things. They increased taxes even during inflation to feed their own goals and pockets." Midorima said in disgust as he recalled watching the politicians plotting against each other and seeking their help to get rid of their competition.

Akashi spoke up this time. "You won't see any of such people around anymore. I pretty much handed those people to the police and with this, the Kiseki No Sedai is no more. Unless for some reason, we have to revive it. The five of you are free to live your lives as you please without dirtying your hands anymore. Thank you for working with me till now."

"Aren't you too polite? It was for our own sake that we helped too. Besides, even if the Kiseki No Sedai doesn't exist anymore, we still have our bonds together and meet up together." Kise stated with a huge smile and the others are nodded their heads in agreement. "Like our friendship from a few years would just vanish without the Kiseki No Sedai linking us together. We were separated during High School and that didn't affect us either."

It was a long path and it took them nearly seven years before they reached their cause. A few years of killing and staining their hands but everything was worth it. They were still unhappy about killing Momoi but that was something they came to accept. Sacrifices were necessary, especially when it's something for the people. They could not view their friend as someone more important than all the other people.

A few lives in exchange for this might not be worth it to other people but it was to them. Those people they killed with the exception of Aida Riko, Kagami Taiga and Momoi Satsuki, really did deserve to die. They were greedy people and some of them would be willing to do anything to get the things they wanted. Some of them were involved in human trafficking and stuff that had the ministers covering for them and the police unable to find out about it because of that.

Akashi was working as the mayor along with Murasakibara helping him and the pair were usually too busy to meet up with the rest when they organised meetings. Thus, the meetings were rather rare unless it was related to work. But they all made sure to meet up at least once a month and Akashi's cause was going along well.

It took a while before Akashi got rid of all the corrupted politicians and even then, some of them took bribes and Akashi made sure they were punished severely and banned them from ever working in the political area ever again. Strict laws were enforced and taxes were set without the people suffering. The police force did well to support Akashi, despite Hyuuga being wary of him due to the case with Aida Riko. Akashi was trying his best to make the people working there care more about the welfare of the people and even if he was not the mayor anymore, his system would still carry on. Until then, he would do his best with Murasakibara assisting him.

Kise continued being the spoke person for Midorima's business and after Kise's persistence in gaining his attention; Midorima had relented and treated him slightly, just slightly better. He still denies them being involved in any way though. But the other four knew better than Midorima was just denying that Kise was more important to him than any of them.

He must have at least taken a liking to him if he meets him for meals everyday even without any need to meet up. Kise was always happy and spammed the other four with text messages that Midorima had asked him to eat with him again despite all of them asking him to stop sending them such text messages. They were still happy for them regardless and none of them showed signs that they were aware of it in front of Midorima. Midorima was still suspicious of their strange smiles whenever they meet though. Kise was probably going to be a model and either work for Midorima or relax when he finally retire from his job.

Kuroko finally bought over a bookstore and hired workers to run it for him since he did not have time to watch over it often. He had ended up joining Aomine's basketball team and the two started playing basketball together like how they used to do in Middle School. Kuroko also moved in with Aomine permanently instead of the temporary stays he used to stay when he came by.

Kise had teased the both of them of acting like a married couple and living enough was not enough that they both had to work together too. During their free time, they would both work in Kuroko's bookstore, although Aomine was only good at manning the cashier and he spends most of his time reading some random magazines instead of books.

It was a simple life but it was good enough for the both of them. They were the most least well to do compared to the other four and neither of them cared about that. As long as they got to spend each day with each other and live the rest of their lives the way they want and having fun at the same time. Basketball was a game they both loved and getting to play it while being together was a life they were satisfied with.

Each and everyone had started living their own lives again and they would meet occasionally to catch up with each other and to talk about old times. Bringing up Momoi was still a rather disheartening topic but they talked about her anyway to show that they still remember her. The least they could do for killing her for their cause and they were reminded of how much they had dirtied their hands to come so far.

They were sure they would walk the same path even if they could choose to change their past. Living in a non-corrupted place was the best and lesser people would suffer then. Watching people smile more proved that what they did was worth it. Before, everyone's faces were of suffering and now they were able to live a more carefree life. No matter what the future would bring, they are going to continue living their live the way they want now and never resort to what they did in the past ever again. Kiseki No Sedai was no more and they would make sure that a day where it came back would never happen.

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_**[[A/N: Frankly, I think the epilogue wasn't really well done but I was in a rush so I finished it as much as I could. ]]**_


End file.
